Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—Footage showing Saadi Gaddafi, the third son of late Libyan leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi, apologizing to the people of Libya for “disturbing the security and stability” of the country was broadcast on state TV on Friday.

“I apologise to the Libyan people, and I apologise to the dear brothers in the Libyan government for all the harm I’ve caused,” Saadi said in his first televised appearance since his incarceration.

He also called on “those who carry weapons to hand over those weapons,” in an apparent reference to the militant groups which helped overthrow his father and which are now contributing to the instability in the post-revolutionary country.

Saadi, who had his head shaven upon entering detention in Libya and who was wearing a blue prison uniform in Friday night’s TV address, said he is being treated well in prison.

The prison authorities said in a statement that the decision to allow Saadi to make a television address was intended to quell rumors he is being tortured in prison.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of anonymity, a source in the Libyan opposition said: “Through this recording, Gaddafi’s son sought to please his warders and prison authorities,” indicating that the way in which the footage was released points to some sort of a quid-pro-quo “settlement” being reached.

The 40-year-old is currently being held in custody in the Tripoli-based Al-Hadaba prison after he was extradited from Niger in early March to face charges relating to his involvement in supressing the 2011 uprising against his father and his alleged abuse of his position as head of the Libyan Football Federation. Saadi fled the country in August 2011.