Gaddafi's son says talking to Islamist rebels
TRIPOLI (Reuters) - A group led by a son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is negotiating with an al Qaeda-affiliated Islamist rebel group about the release from prison of some of its members, the group said.
The Gaddafi International Foundation, chaired by Saif al-Islam, said that as a result of the talks Libyan authorities were preparing to free one third of the members of Fighting Islamic Group in Libya (FIGL) currently serving time in jail.
"The foundation announces the continuation of its dialogue with the Libyan Fighting Group represented in its leadership and with the participation of some Islamic intellectual personalities," the group said in a statement on its website.
"As a result of the dialogue, competent authorities have started immediately making preparations to release one third of the group members," the statement, dated February 24, said.
The statement did not say how many Fighting Group prisoners were serving time in prison.
Saif al-Islam officially holds no government job but is his father's most trusted envoy.
The group first announced its presence in 1995, vowing to overthrow Gaddafi and launching a violent campaign in the OPEC oil exporting nation.
In November 2007 al Qaeda second in command Ayman al-Zawahri said the group had joined the militant organization.
In January 2008, Abu Laith al-Libi, a leading Fighting Group member and al Qaeda field commander, was killed in a suspected U.S. missile strike in Pakistan.
FIGL members were among detainees who clashed with guards and police in a riot at Libya's main Abu Salim prison in October 2006 in which one prisoner was killed and 17 people were wounded.
Libyan authorities described the rioters as "heretics", using the official term Libyan authorities use to describe radical Islamists. At the time more than 100 FIGL members were serving long jail terms there, including life.
(Writing by William Maclean; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
