Editor's note: This article was updated on Aug. 29 to include the latest news from Libya.

Saif al-Islam al-Qaddafi
Erstwhile Western darling, LSE grad, born-again Muslim, de facto prime minister
Last spotted: Tripoli's Rixos hotel, touring the city in his white armored vehicle

Saif al-Islam al-Qaddafi, the second-born Qaddafi son, was once the West's favorite, but even before that, he was his father's chosen son, rumored to be next in line for Libyan leadership. Of course, the bloodthirsty rants and International Criminal Court indictment came later.

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A lot of the adjectives once used for Saif -- cosmopolitan, charismatic, Western-friendly, moderate -- are due to the reputation he developed at the London School of Economics, from which he received a (now-disputed, thanks to charges of thesis plagiarism) Ph.D. in 2008.

Saif also built up his Davos Man credibility through his philanthropic endeavors: His Qaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation sent hundreds of tons of aid to Haiti after its devastating January 2010 earthquake. Saif has also spoken boldly about constitutional reform, climate change, and economic liberalization. He was lauded for convincing his father to publicly renounce weapons of mass destruction in 2003.

But at the start of the Libyan uprising, Saif was quick to join his father's side, much to the disappointment and astonishment of the West. His statements, often given on behalf of his father, grew erratic and fiery, threatening, for example, that "rivers of blood will run through Libya."

During the six-month battle for Libya, Saif's behavior became increasingly bizarre. This month, he gave a rare interview to the New York Times' David Kirkpatrick. Despite rebel gains, Qaddafi insisted that the rebels were "rats," and their governing council "a fake," "a joke," and "a puppet." Saif, though never that religious in his previous incarnation, had grown a beard and spent the interview fingering Islamic prayer beads; nevermind that he had earlier denounced the rebellion as an Islamist conspiracy. He said his father's forces would align with radical Islamists against the rebels: "Libya will look like Saudi Arabia, like Iran. So what?"

He claimed to be unsurprised by the West's newfound interest in his country's future, partially thanks to its oil wealth. "Libya is very sexy. Libya is very nice," he concluded during the interview. "It is a very delicious piece of cake."

On Sunday, Aug. 21, early in the recent rebel siege of Tripoli, the National Transitional Council (NTC) trumped the capture of Saif, arguably the most powerful of Qaddafi's sons and considered the "de facto prime minister," according to the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo. Mustafa Abdel Jalil, head of the NTC, declared on Monday that Saif was "being kept in a secure place under close guard ... We gave instructions that he is well treated, in order to be judged." In a separate statement, Moreno-Ocampo confirmed that Saif was captured, telling Reuters, "Saif was captured in Libya. We have confidential information from different sources that we have within Libya confirming this." The ICC issued arrested warrants for Qaddafi, Saif, and Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi in June on charges of crimes against humanity.  

But early Tuesday morning, reports from several journalists noted that Saif was free and on the loose, and had been spotted at Qaddafi's residential complex in Tripoli. Later, video footage showed him exultantly greeting his supporters in central Tripoli. Saif also appeared at the Rixos hotel in Tripoli, where international journalists were woken up and told to go downstairs. There, in the parking lot sat Saif, smiling inside a white armored vehicle and, according to the BBC, "pumped full of adrenalin, brimming with confidence."

CNN's Matthew Chance snapped a photo of Saif and tweeted it, alerting the world that Saif told him "that he had been traveling around Tripoli in an armored convoy the whole time."

Saif then gave a few brief statements to reporters, decrying Western forces and the rebels:

You have seen how the Libyan people rose up, men and women, to break the spine of the rebel rats. Now we will take a tour in the 'hot spots' of the city of Tripoli so you can see that the situation is good. We want to reassure the world that the situation in Libya is excellent, thank God.

When asked whether he was afraid of the International Criminal Court, Saif replied, "Screw the criminal court."

Confusion still surrounds Saif's supposed imprisonment. While he claimed to have never been captured, one rebel fighter speculated to Al Jazeera that Qaddafi was captured and had bribed his way out. On Tuesday, Waheed Burshan, president of the NTC, said that Saif had been arrested, but had escaped, due in part to "inexperienced youth" captors and the lack of a "structured military guard."

As of Aug. 29, his whereabouts are unknown, though he is still believed to be in Libya. 

MAHMUD TURKIA/AFP/Getty Images

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