Gunmen assassinate late Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam in Libya

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of the late former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, has been assassinated by suspected gunmen in Libya.

According to Al Jazeera, it is believed that Gaddafi was shot and killed in the western Libyan city of Zintan, where he was based for the past decade.

The reports said he was killed by four individuals, though no further details were immediately available.

Abdullah Othman, Saif al-Islam’s political adviser, confirmed the death in a brief post on Facebook, without specifying the circumstances or identifying those responsible.

His French lawyer, Marcel Ceccaldi, told the news agency AFP that the identity of the assailants remained unknown.

He said, “For now, we don’t know” who was behind the killing, Ceccaldi said, adding that he was told by one of Seif al-Islam’s close associates about ten days ago “that there were problems with his security”.

The 53-year-old’s death was confirmed by his political adviser, Abdullah Othman, but the exact circumstances of his death remain unclear as of the time of writing this report.

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 in a social media post on Tuesday.

Saif al-Islam was one of the most prominent figures in Libya’s political landscape following the fall of his father, who ruled the oil-rich North African nation from 1969 until he was overthrown and killed during the 2011 uprising.

Born in 1972, Saif al-Islam played a central role in Libya’s re-engagement with Western governments in the early 2000s and was widely viewed as the regime’s reformist face.

After the collapse of the Gaddafi government, he was captured by a militia in the western city of Zintan, where he was held for nearly six years. The International Criminal Court sought his extradition over alleged crimes against humanity linked to the violent suppression of protests in 2011.

In 2015, a Tripoli court sentenced him to death in absentia. He was released from detention in 2017 but remained largely out of public view.

Libyan analyst Mustafa Fetouri previously said Saif al-Islam was later allowed to make limited contact with allies inside and outside the country, while living in hiding to avoid assassination.