Son of Late Libya Leader Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi Shot Dead by Four Assassins
53-year-old former heir apparent shot dead amid ongoing political instability in Libya
- Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of Libya’s late leader Muammar Gaddafi, was reportedly assassinated by a four-man commando unit
- He was once seen as his father’s heir apparent and played a significant role in Libya’s diplomacy with the West
- Libya remains politically unstable and divided
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of Libya’s late leader Muammar Gaddafi, has reportedly been assassinated, officials confirmed on Tuesday.
The Libyan News Agency cited the head of Gaddafi’s political team, while his lawyer told AFP that a “four-man commando” unit carried out the attack at his home in Zintan, though the perpetrators remain unidentified. In a different account, his sister said he was killed near the Libya-Algeria border.
Born in 1972, Saif al-Islam was long seen as his father’s potential successor and one of the country’s most influential figures. He played a central role in Libya’s rapprochement with the West in the 2000s, helping secure the lifting of international sanctions after Libya abandoned its nuclear weapons program.
Following the 2011 uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam was jailed for nearly six years by a rival militia in Zintan and faced an International Criminal Court warrant for crimes against humanity for his role in suppressing anti-government protests. He was sentenced to death in absentia in 2015 by a Tripoli court but was later released under an amnesty law in 2017.
Despite denying ambitions to inherit power, he announced in 2021 that he would run for the presidency—elections that were later postponed indefinitely.
Libya remains divided between rival governments and militias, with ongoing instability marking the political landscape that Saif al-Islam once sought to navigate.
