The son of the late Libyan dictator, Muammar Gaddafi, has reportedly been shot dead. The death of 53-year-old Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was announced by his lawyer, Khaled al-Zaidi, and his political adviser, Abdulla Othman, in separate posts on Facebook on Tuesday (3rd February). “Four armed men stormed the residence of Saif al-Islam Kadhafi after disabling surveillance cameras, then executed him,” his advisor Abdullah Othman Abdurrahim reportedly told al-Ahrar TV channel.
As per reports, Zaidi told the media that a “four-man commando” unit assassinated him at his home in Zintan city of Libya. No other details relating to his death have been revealed. According to the BBC, the sister of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi presented a different version of events relating to his death and told Libyan TV that he died near the Libyan border close to Algeria.
Khaled al-Mishri, the former head of the Tripoli-based High State Council, an internationally recognised government body, called for an “urgent and transparent investigation” into the killing of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was considered heir apparent of his father, Muammar Gaddafi, after he was executed by the National Transitional Council (NTC) on October 20, 2011. Even though Saif al-Islam Gaddafi did not hold any official position, he emerged as a strong political figure after his father, who ruled Libya from 1969 to 2011. Saif al-Islam Gaddafi reportedly played a crucial role in improving Libya’s relations with the West from 2000 onwards until the collapse of the Gaddafi regime in Libya. After his father’s execution, he was imprisoned by a rival militia in Zintan for about six years after being accused of playing a key role in the brutal repression of anti-government protests.
The International Criminal Court wanted to start legal proceedings against Saif al-Islam Gaddafi for his alleged crimes against humanity, conducted by him in the suppression of opposition protests in 2011. He was given a death sentence in absentia for the same offences in 2015 by a court in Tripoli, where a UN-backed government ruled. He was released two years later in Tobruk under an amnesty law.
Since the fall of the Gaddafi regime, Libya has been split into areas ruled by different militias. It is currently divided between two rival governments.
