The International Criminal Court is in indirect negotiations with the son of late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam, about his possible surrender for trial, the organization’s chief prosecutor said Friday.

Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told The Associated Press, that talks were being held through intermediaries, whom he did not identify to assure Saif al-Islam that he would receive a fair trial and be helped to find a new country to reside in if he were acquitted.

Moreno-Ocampo said he did not know exactly where Gaddafi was, but said the 39-year-old was reported to be heading through the desert to Mali, where the former Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senoussi fled Wednesday.

An advisor to the President of Niger, who could not be named due to the sensitive nature of the matter, said Gadhafi was driving through the desert across the line that separates Algeria from Niger, the AP reported.

He said Tuaregs, nomads of the Sahara who supported the elder Gaddafi and who were angered about the way he died, are aiding Saif al-Islam.

The advisor said he should cross the border into Mali later Friday or Saturday.

As reported by the AP, Mali Foreign Minister, Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga, who claims to have had no information about Saif al-Islam’s whereabouts, said that he and his government would respect any international arrest warrant, if Saif al-Islam entered into Mali.

“Whatever happens, Mali will respect its obligations in relation to the International Criminal Court. We are absolutely clear on that,” he said.

But Moreno-Ocampo believes that Saif al-Islam was also in touch with unidentified mercenaries that offered to find him refuge in an African country that does not cooperate with the court.

"We know he has a different option because apparently there is a group of mercenaries willing to move him to a country, probably Zimbabwe," the prosecutor said. Some of the mercenaries may be from South Africa, he said.

Saif al-Islam also asked what would happen if he were freed. Moreno-Ocampo said he told him that he could request to be moved to a country other than Libya.

"He says he is innocent and he will prove his innocence," Moreno-Ocampo said.

However, Saif al-Islam was recently reported saying on a Syrian television program that he intends seek revenge.

“We continue our resistance. I am in Libya, I am alive, free and intend to go to the very end and exact revenge,” he said.