belfasttelegraph.co.uk
How MI6 rescued Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam
By Kim Sengupta
British intelligence and Scotland Yard were involved in an international operation to
protect Saif al-Islam, the son of Muammar Gaddafi, from an Islamist plot to
assassinate him on British soil, secret files have revealed.
The British intelligence services suspected that the plot was linked to Qatar,
currently the West's foremost Arab ally against the Libyan regime.
The news came as the National Transitional Council said it had confirmed that
Gaddafi's most feared son, Khamis, had died in fighting close to Tripoli and was
buried near Bani Walid, the dictator's last stronghold, which on Sunday was
besieged by the rebels.
MI6 and the SAS are now involved in the hunt for Saif, along with other members of
the Gaddafi family who remain elusive in the endgame of the Libyan civil war.
The dictator's son has been condemned by Prime Minister David Cameron for his
part in the brutal crackdown which followed the February revolution and for which
he faces war crimes charges.
But, in the past, MI6 was only too willing to protect Saif. The intelligence agency
urgently contacted its French counterparts after Libyan authorities reported that a
terrorist cell linked to the Gulf state of Qatar was planning to attack from Paris.
The French told UK officials at the time that "the Qatari Interior Minister was
known to be an Islamist extremist sympathiser".
In a letter dated January 20, 2004, MI6 said: "The report has been passed on to
the Metropolitan Police Special Branch and Saif has been placed on their at-risk
register. The police have visited Saif to discuss the threat with him and he appears
content with the measures being taken."
At the time Saif was being viewed by the Government as a key figure in bringing
Libya in from the cold and ending its search for a nuclear arsenal.
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