Al-Saadi Gaddafi

Al-Saadi Muammar Gaddafi , also spelt as Al-Saadi Moammer Al-Gaddafi ( ar, الساعدي معمر القذافي; born 25 May 1973) is a Libyan retired professional football player. He captained the national team, but his career was widely attributed to the influence of his father Muammar Gaddafi, the country's supreme leader.

In 2011, Gaddafi was the commander of Libya's Special Forces and participated in the Libyan Civil War. An Interpol notice was issued against him in 2011. In March 2014, he was arrested in Niger and extradited to Libya, where he faced murder charges, which he was cleared of in 2018. In August 2015, a video surfaced allegedly showing him being tortured.

He was released in September 2021 and left for Turkey.

Football career

Gaddafi is known for his participation in Libyan football, which was arranged in his favour. One law forbade announcing the name of any football player with the exception of Gaddafi. Only numbers of other players were announced. Referees favoured Gaddafi's club and security forces were used to silence protests.

On 6 June 2000, the BBC reported that Gaddafi had signed with Maltese champions Birkirkara F.C. and would play for them in the Champions League. The move failed to materialize. In 2003, he signed for Italian Serie A team Perugia, employing Diego Maradona as his technical consultant and Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson as his personal trainer.

He made only one substitute appearance against Juventus for Perugia before failing a drug test, due to presence in his system of the illegal substance Nandrolone. An article in ''la Repubblica'' said that "Even at twice his current speed he would still be twice as slow as slow itself."

He was also captain of the Libya national football team, captain of his home club in Tripoli, and president of the Libyan Football Federation.

Gaddafi joined UEFA Champions League qualifiers Udinese Calcio in 2005–06, playing only 10 minutes in an end-of-season league match against Cagliari Calcio. He joined U.C. Sampdoria during season 2006–07, without playing a single match.

Business activities

In 2006, Al-Saadi Gaddafi and the Jamahiriya government launched a project to create a semi-autonomous city similar to Hong Kong in Libya, stretching 40 km between Tripoli and the Tunisian border. The proposed new city would become a high tech, banking, medical and educational center not requiring visas to enter. The city would have its own international airport and a major seaport. Gaddafi promised religious tolerance with both "synagogues and churches" and no discrimination in this new metropolis. The new city would have "Western-style" business laws that Saadi thought European and American companies would find welcoming and familiar.

Gaddafi used to take great interest in the affairs of many of Libya's other business interests like Tamoil, the oil refining and marketing company owned by the Libyan government, before the overthrow of the regime.

Italian lawsuit

In July 2010, Gaddafi was ordered by an Italian court to pay €392,000 to a luxurious Ligurian hotel for an unpaid bill dating back to a month-long stay in the summer of 2007.

Personal life

Gaddafi is married to the daughter of al-Khweildi al-Hmeidi, a Libyan military commander.

In 2009, a U.S. diplomatic cable called Gaddafi "the black sheep" of Muammar Gaddafi's family. It mentioned scuffles with European police, "abuse of drugs and alcohol, excessive partying" and "profligate affairs with women and men". Gaddafi's bisexuality had partly prompted the arrangement of his marriage to the commander's daughter, the cable said. Saadi was having a relationship with Bulgarian national Dafinka Mircheva.

2011 to present

Libyan civil war

On 27 February 2011, Saadi was interviewed by Christiane Amanpour on ABC News, where he warned of imminent civil war and that if his father left Libya, the power vacuum would only lead to more chaos. He also stated that he was looking for a lawyer to fight the travel ban against him levied by UN Security Council Resolution 1970.

On 15 March 2011, there were unconfirmed reports that a pilot by the name of Muhammad Mokhtar Osman had flown his jet into the Gaddafi stronghold of Bab al-Azizia in Tripoli damaging it and injuring him and his brother Khamis.

Speaking to BBC Panorama, a former Jamahiriya soldier claimed that Gaddafi had personally ordered to shoot unarmed protesters in Benghazi when visiting the city's army barracks at the beginning of the uprising. Gaddafi confirmed that he had been at the barracks but denied giving orders to fire on protesters.

Gaddafi was reportedly the driving force behind a change in fighting tactics of the government's forces. Instead of using heavy infantry, tanks and armored cars – which could easily be distinguished from the Free Libyan Army and then destroyed by allied fighter jets – the fight against the rebels was pursued with small, fast and versatile units.

The rebels claimed that they captured him during the Battle of Tripoli, on 21 August, but later the claim turned out to be false.

On 24 August, Gaddafi contacted CNN, stating that he had the authority to negotiate on behalf of loyalist forces, and wished to discuss a ceasefire with U.S. and NATO authorities. A week later he contacted Al Arabiya, stating his father was ready to step down, and called for dialogue with the National Transitional Council.

On 5 September, Gaddafi said in an interview with CNN that an "aggressive" speech by his brother Saif al-Islam had led to the breakdown of talks between NTC forces and Gaddafi loyalists in Bani Walid, and said he had not seen his father in two months. Gaddafi also claimed a position of neutrality in the conflict and offered to mediate.

Flight to Niger

On 11 September 2011, Gaddafi fled to Niger

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