Fugitive Gadhafi son captured, faces trial

ZINTAN, Libya -- Moammar Gadhafi's son and former heir-apparent, Seif al-Islam, was captured by revolutionary fighters in the desert Saturday, just over a month after his father was killed, setting off celebrations across Libya.

Al-Islam, who has undergone a transformation from a voice of reform in an eccentric and reviled regime to one of Interpol's most-wanted, now faces the prospect of trial in an international or Libyan court for the alleged crimes of his late father's four-decade rule over the oil-rich North African nation.

Celebratory gunfire shook Tripoli and other cities after Libyan officials said al-Islam, who has been charged by the International Criminal Court with crimes against humanity, was detained about 30 miles west of Obari, in an area that borders Niger, Mali and Algeria.

"I am hopeful that the capture of Gadhafi's son is the beginning of a chapter of transparency and democracy and freedom," Libya's interim Prime Minister Abdurrahim el-Keib said at a news conference.

An international court prosecutor said that while national governments have the first right to try their own citizens for war crimes, the court's primary goal was to ensure al-Islam has a fair trial. His capture leaves only former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senoussi wanted by the international court.-- AP