The Playboy Son of Gaddafi Covered in Sand

Colonel Gaddafi notoriously hanged hundreds of political opponents, sometimes in public executions broadcast on TV.

But it is believed the firing squad may become the method of execution for the new state. Only three weeks ago Saif had vowed to avenge his father’s death, declaring defiantly: ‘I am alive and free and willing to fight to the end.’

Last night he remained in a safe house in Zintan, where the townsfolk vowed to keep him alive until he can face a judge in the capital.

Tripoli’s new rulers said last night that ex-Intelligence Minister Abdullah al-Senoussi had been captured alive by revolutionary fighters, not far from where Saif was seized.

Fighters tracking al-Senoussi for two days caught up with him at his sister’s house in Deerat al-Shati, about 40 miles south of the desert city of Sebha.

Al-Senoussi, Colonel Gaddafi’s brother-in-law, was one of six Libyans convicted in absentia and sentenced to life in prison in France for the 1989 bombing of a French passenger jet over Niger which killed all 170 on board.