After the final collapse of Libya’s Gaddafi clique, with the dictator rudely roughed up before being murdered out of hand, only his son Seif al-Islam was left roaming about. The International Criminal Court was conducting background negotiations to have him arrested and transported to Europe where he would face charges of crimes against humanity.
Libya’s transitional government said Saturday that its fighters in the southwestern desert had captured Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, the last fugitive son and one-time heir apparent of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.
In a scene of celebration outstripped only by news of Colonel Qaddafi’s capture and death last month, Tripoli’s streets erupted into revelry. Vehicles clogged intersections, horns blaring, and militiamen shot their rifles into the sky.
Officials here in the capital promised that Mr. Qaddafi would be closely guarded so that he could face trial. But in a troubling echo of Colonel Qaddafi’s capture a month ago, in which he was killed while in the hands of militiamen without ever reaching the capital, the local militias who announced Seif al-Islam’s capture on Saturday suggested they would be the brokers of his fate, at least for now.
<Insert airy prose about the importance of legitimate governance, democratic institutions, the rule of law, etc.>
Is Vegas givin’ odds?
Seif al-Islam, sux to be you. Guy has the life expectancy of beer at a frat house.
Shot whilst not trying to escape?
karma.
My first thought, exactly. There’s a certain symmetry in these situations. Doesn’t make it right, but it is Karmic in its “reap what you sow” results.