Saif al-Islam Qadhafi's position is being weakened

The tepid nature of the annual human rights report issued by the Qadhafi International Charity and Development Foundation (QICDF) was highlighted by the subsequent announcement that it would be the Foundation's last such report. Following a meeting of the board of trustees in London on 16th December, the QICDF announced that it would "no longer include advocacy for political and human rights reform [in Libya] among its activities", and would instead be "redoubling efforts to fulfil its core charitable mission of delivering aid and relief to disadvantaged populations, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa".

The announcement reflects a serious retreat for Saif al-Islam Qadhafi, who has suffered a number of political setbacks. He failed to take up the post of general co-ordinator that was offered to him by his father, the Libyan leader, Muammar Qadhafi, in October 2009. According to recent US embassy cables released by WikiLeaks, a whistle-blowing website, this was because he didn't want to be "tainted by association" with the current regime. Without an official political position, Saif al-Islam has conducted much of his political activity through his two organisations, the QICDF and the Al Ghad Foundation, a media group, both of which are geared towards reform.

However, just as QICDF has been forced into retreat, Al Ghad has suffered from attacks by conservatives in recent months and its activities have been curtailed. In early December, the Libya Press news agency, which is part of Al Ghad, announced that it was closing its office in the capital, Tripoli, and would relocate to London and other European capitals. It was the first and only private news agency in Libya and had been operating for less than six months before it announced its departure. According to the agency, it decided to close its office due to "security harassment" and "deliberate restrictions" aimed at its journalists and operations. Owing to this intensified activity by the security forces, who informed the agency that its "presence inside Libya was not desirable", Al Ghad officials felt that they were unable to offer the agency's journalists sufficient protection. The decision came just one month after a crackdown on some of Al Ghad's other media outlets, including Oea and Quryna. Both newspapers were suspended earlier this year, but recommenced publishing in July. Oea was suspended once again in early November, and 22 of its journalists arrested. They were released shortly afterwards.

An international press watchdog, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), said that the decision by Libya Press to close its office "illustrates the difficulties of conducting reporting that is not in lockstep with the government's official positions". Amnesty International said that "this escalating harassment of privately-owned media outlets stands in sharp contrast with the Libyan government's rhetorical assertions that press freedom is respected". In August the Libyan government submitted a report to the UN Human Rights Council stating that "press in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya is free and uncensored other than by journalistic conscience". In the 2010 press freedom index drawn up by the French organisation, Reporters without Borders, Libya was ranked 160th out of 178 countries.

With the QICDF also retreating from reform efforts and Saif al-Islam's independent media facing serious restrictions and harassment, it seems that Saif al-Islam is losing the battle against conservative elements within the regime. This could prove to be a worrying setback for reform in Libya. Saif al-Islam's foundations were in effect the country's only opposition, albeit a loyal opposition. The QICDF tried to push for constitutional and judicial reform, while his media outlets attempted to hold the government to account. But with the former redirecting its activities abroad, and the latter having been driven abroad, Saif al-Islam's domestic influence looks to be severely diminished. Certainly, events would suggest that the conservatives have gained ground and out-manoeuvred him in most aspects over the course of 2010.