of the Gaddafi family left in Libya. He appeared on Syrian pro-Gaddafi television on 22 October claiming "I am in Libya, I am alive and free and willing to fight to the end and take revenge", but his whereabouts were unknown and subject to many rumours. On 24 October 2011, a National Transitional Council source claimed that Saif had been given a forged passport near Murzuk and was in the Ghat area near the border of Niger and Algeria. The same source claimed that Abdullah Senussi was helping Saif plot his escape. An international team of lawyers representing the interests of Saif al-Islam wrote to US leaders demanding that he be protected from assassination and holding the United States and NATO responsible for the Libyan leader's "brutal assassination" and repeated attacks on Libya's civilian population. On 19 November 2011, as Saif al-Islam was trying to flee from Libya, he and four aides were captured, and detained about west of the town of Ubari near Sabha in southern Libya, from Tripoli. Sources say that it was the betrayal by a Libyan nomad, Yussef Saleh al-Hotmani, that finally led to his capture. Yussef Saleh al-Hotmani told the interviewers that he was hired to guide a man to Niger and that he was offered €1 million for the job. Being offered such a huge sum of money, he suspected foul play as Saif's agent did not tell him whom he was going to guide. He contacted the rebel fighters and told them where a two vehicle convoy would pass through southern Libya on the night of 18 November and this allowed the rebel fighters to ambush the convoy. Saif was taken to Zintan by plane and, pending trial, he was kept in detention by the Zintan-militia that captured him. A differing account was provided by Ejmi al-Atiri of the Zintan Brigades. According to al-Atiri, Saif never offered them money in exchange for his release, but instead asked to be shot in the head. In addition to three severed fingers, Saif also had wounds in his abdomen and his flanks and it was arranged that he be operated on in Zintan. The operation took four hours and he needed daily medical monitoring for two months. al-Atiri stated that Saif insisted he never paid foreign mercenaries to fight for his father and had no choice but to support his father due to traditional family loyalty.