Saif Al Islam Gaddafi, son of the former Libyan dictator
Muammar Gaddafi and his designated heir until the fall of the regime in 2011, was killed this Tuesday in the town of Zintan, 136 kilometers southwest of Tripoli, according to Libyan security officials. The man who for years presented himself as the reformist face of the family regime died at the age of 53 in circumstances that the Libyan judicial authorities are investigating, although local media attribute his death to an attack by armed men at his residence.
Two security officials from western Libya, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to brief the media, confirmed the death.
Khaled al-Zaidi, Seif al-Islam’s lawyer, confirmed the death on Facebook without offering details about the circumstances of the attack. Abdullah Othman Abdurrahim, who represented Gaddafi in the UN-mediated political dialogue to resolve the Libyan conflict, also announced his death on social media. The media outlet
Fawasel Media cited Abdurrahim as saying that armed men killed Seif al-Islam in his home.
The death occurred in Zintan, the same city that
held him prisoner for almost six years after his capture in 2011. Seif al-Islam had lived there since June 2017, when he was released after receiving amnesty from one of Libya’s rival governments, although his freedom was always limited by the presence of local militias that watched over him. A Libyan court had sentenced him to death in absentia in 2015 for inciting violence and murdering protesters during the 2011 revolution.
The International Criminal Court was also seeking him for crimes against humanity related to the uprising that overthrew his father.
Born in June 1972 in Tripoli, Seif al-Islam
was the second son of Muammar Gaddafi and his second wife, Safiya Farkash. He studied for a doctorate in Philosophy at the London School of Economics and for years was considered the reformist face of the Gaddafi regime. He became known internationally for his role as mediator in the case of the Bulgarian nurses released in 2007 and led the regime’s reconciliation process with the West. Through the Gaddafi Foundation for Development, created in 1999, he compensated relatives of victims of Libyan terrorism.
Seif al-Islam was captured by Zintan fighters at the end of 2011 while
trying to flee to Niger after the fall of the regime. In November 2021, he reappeared publicly after years of absence and
announced his candidacy for the presidency of Libya in a move that generated rejection among the anti-Gaddafi political forces of both the west and east of the country. The High National Electoral Committee disqualified him, but the elections were never held due to disputes between rival administrations and the armed groups that have governed Libya since the bloody overthrow of Muammar al-Gaddafi.
Seif al-Islam’s fate dramatically contrasts with that of his seven brothers, whose lives illustrate the violent collapse of the Gaddafi clan.
Three of the dictator’s sons died during the 2011 revolution: Mutassim, president of the National Security Council, was tortured and killed the same day as his father in October 2011. Khamis, head of the regime’s elite forces, and Seif al Arab, one of those responsible for the repression in Benghazi, died in NATO bombings. Mohamed, the dictator’s eldest son born from his first marriage to Fatiha Al Nouri,
managed to escape to Algeria after the fall of Tripoli and remains in exile.
Saadi Gaddafi, the dictator’s third son and known for his career as a professional footballer in Italy, fled to Niger after the revolution but was extradited to Libya in 2014. He remained imprisoned until 2021, when he was acquitted and released. After leaving prison, he traveled to Turkey, although his current whereabouts are uncertain. Saadi had been president of the Libyan Football Federation and played for Italian Serie A teams such as Perugia, Udinese and Sampdoria, although his career was marked by accusations of doping and match-fixing.
Hannibal Gaddafi, son of the dictator’s second wife, initially managed to take refuge in Syria after escaping with his mother across the Algerian border. However, in 2015, he was captured by Lebanese Shiite groups and transferred to Lebanon, where he remains imprisoned. Lebanese authorities are trying to extract information from him about the whereabouts of Imam Musa Sadr, a Shiite leader who disappeared without a trace in 1978 after a trip to Libya.
Safiya Farkash, Muammar Gaddafi’s second wife and mother of Saif al-Islam, went into exile in Oman with her daughter Aisha, who had been a lawyer by profession and a UN goodwill ambassador.
The assassination of Seif al-Islam closes the chapter of who was for years
the only member of the Gaddafi clan who tried to return to Libyan politics. His death comes in a country that continues to be fragmented between rival administrations and armed militias that have been vying for control since 2011.
Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown in a popular uprising backed by NATO after more than 40 years in power. He was killed in October 2011 amid fighting that would turn into a civil war. Since then, Libya has been plunged into chaos and remains divided between armed groups and administrations that have failed to unify the country or hold legitimate presidential elections.
