Saif al-Islam, a prominent son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi who made a rare public criticism of the country’s political system in August, is leaving to work overseas, an official source said on Friday.
Islam, in his early 30s, will work in an international economic institution, the source said, adding that it was not clear what effect his departure would have on a programme of reform and development he called for in his August speech.
The source gave no explanation for the departure.
Islam’s comments, in a two-hour speech to 15 000 youth activists in the town of Sirte, were among the most critical publicly expressed by any Libyan.
Speaking to loud cheers, Islam criticised an array of alleged ills in Libyan public life, from the greed of ”fat cats” in state institutions to the poor state of the health and education sectors, and called for a range of reforms.
He said the North African country lacked a free press and its political system was not as democratic as he would like.
Eleven days later Gadaffi, in a speech marking the 37 anniversary of the coup d’etat that brought him to power, urged his supporters to kill enemies if they asked for political change.
Libya’s political system, established in 1977, is based on the political philosophy contained in Moammar Gadaffi’s Green Book, which combines socialist and Islamic theories.
The Green Book opposes both communism and Western liberal democracy and brands the setting up of political parties as ”treason” and electing a parliament ”charlatanism”.
In recent years Islam has been seen as his father’s most trusted representative, although he holds no government position.
The official source said Islam would remain president of the Gadaffi Development Foundation, a charity group that is involved in a wide range of humanitarian and diplomatic projects.
Its most recent action was intervening to secure the release of two Italian tourists freed in Libya after being kidnapped in August by an armed group in Niger.
It has also helped set up a fund to organise aid for hundreds of Libyan children infected by HIV/Aids.
They are at the centre of a prominent court case in which five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor are accused of deliberately infecting them. They deny the charges. The verdict in that case in set for December 19. – Reuters