Bearded and wearing traditional Libyan clothing, he addressed the camera and cited a verse from the Koran that translates as, "judge between us and our people in truth".
"God always prevails in his purpose," he also said, citing another chapter of the Muslim holy book, and adding from another section - "even if the unbelievers hate it".
It is a very different image from the one he presented before the uprising that brought down his father in 2011.
In the aftermath of Muammar Gaddafi's brutal end, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was himself captured by a militia.
He was held for six years, receiving a death sentence that was later overturned.
Mr Gaddafi is still wanted on war crimes charges by the International Criminal Court but has gradually re-emerged onto the public stage, including via an interview to the New York Times from his villa in Zintan earlier this year