Recordings of phone calls made during the first few days of the Libyan unrest provide evidence of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi ordering the killings of suspected opposition activists.

Over 12,000 messages were picked up in intercepted messages between the former Libyan Prime Minister, Al Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi, and a loyalist Tayeb al-Safi.

According to one transcript, released by Al Jazeera, Saif al-Islam can be heard instructing al-Safi to "take care of the Gamal Abdel Nasser base in Tobruk".

Al-Safi responds saying, "the commander is a traitor and they have places be careful."

Saif al-Islam replies: “We will send people to kill them. And if you have people, even just ten, let them go to Tobruk and kill them.”

A conversation intercepted on the 21st March appears to suggest that the government staged civilian deaths after NATO airstrikes.

Relaying information regarding a NATO air raid in Tripoli, Al-Safi describes it as the target as the "High Commission for Children", and states, “We need to put children there and take the media there,” 

Speaking to Al-Jazeera, Luis Moreno Ocampo, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), said,

“Saif was the boss, he was giving direct order to kill, to liquidate them. This is new for me, this type of evidence,”

Phonecalls between Colonel Gaddafi and his supporters also reveal an increasing frustration at formerly friendly states that had begun to support the opposition activists.

In one conversation Colonel Gaddafi is heard to say,

“What’s wrong with Spanish?”

 

“Tell them they do not appreciate their own interests. Tell them we will recognise the Basques. Threaten them with this, and recognise Andalusia.”