The son of Libyan dictator Mu’ammar Al-Qadhafi has told the London-based Arabic-language newspaper A-Sharq Al-Awsat that the Times of London report of a $3.5 billion agreement to provide refuge in Libya for the family of Sadaam Hussein is not true. In a phone interview with Saif Al-Islam Al-Qadhafi, the Libyan leader’s heir described the report as an imaginative “journalistic fabrication.” He added that “the Iraqi president’s family is a ‘friend-family’ and that Iraq is a ‘friend-country’, therefore they do not need deals of this type.”
The Times had quoted diplomatic sources in Tripoli who claimed that the deal was intended to provide refuge for Saddam’s family when the widely anticipated American attack begins or in case the administration (read: Hussein) faces the risk of being overthrown from within. The report goes on to claim that Sadaam’s uncle, General ‘Ali Hassan Al-Majid, discussed the plan with the Libyan leadership during his September 8th visit to Libya.
Deputy Secretary-General [the term secretary-general is the personal term for Libya’s president, Mu’ammar Qadhafi] for Culture and Communication Hasun Al-Shawish also denied the report and said that “it is not at all based on fact.”