Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, talks with a lawyer from behind bars in a courtroom in Zintan, in this May 15, 2014 file photo.

Human Rights Watch said Monday it had been able to meet slain Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi’s son Saadi in a Tripoli prison, where he said his rights were being violated.

“He said lawyers were not present during any of the interrogation sessions, where, he alleged, prosecution officials had intimidated and threatened him and other witnesses,” the New York-based rights group reported.

Qaddafi’s third oldest son spoke to HRW without guards present on September 15 at Al-Hadba prison, in what appeared to be his first meeting with a rights organization since his extradition from Niger in March 2014, it said.

Saadi Qaddafi had sought refuge in Niger after the 2011 popular uprising that toppled his father.

He is charged with the first-degree murder in 2005 of a former trainer at Tripoli’s Al-Ittihad football club and his trial is underway.

Saadi Qaddafi, 42, told HRW researchers that he had no legal representation during the pretrial and investigation phase of his case, although he was able to appoint a lawyer around the start of his trial.

He said he had been “held in solitary confinement at Al-Hadba prison since his extradition in a windowless cell, though with a fan, and has had no communication with other detainees,” HRW said.

Researchers met with three other detainees including former military intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi, and two former prime ministers, Abuzeid Dorda and Al-Baghdadi Al-Mahmudi.

A Tripoli court sentenced all three to death in July for their alleged role in suppressing the 2011 uprising.

The three former officials reported lacking private access to lawyers, court authorities refusing to allow them to speak during trial proceedings and armed groups intimidating their lawyers, HRW said.

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