Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of former Libyan leader, shot dead

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of Libya’s former leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi, has reportedly been shot dead, according to his political team.

The 53-year-old, once widely regarded as his father’s heir apparent, was confirmed dead on February 3 by the head of his political team, Caliber.Az reports per foreign media.

His lawyer said that a “four-man commando” unit carried out an assassination at his home in the city of Zintan, though it remains unclear who may have been behind the attack.

In a competing version of events, his sister told Libyan TV that he had died near the country’s border with Algeria.

Saif al-Islam was long seen as one of the most influential and feared figures in Libya following his father’s rule, which lasted from 1969 until Muammar Gaddafi was ousted and killed during an uprising in 2011.

Born in 1972, he played a key role in Libya’s rapprochement with the West from 2000 until the collapse of the Gaddafi regime.

After his father’s removal, Saif al-Islam - accused of playing a central role in the brutal repression of anti-government protests - was jailed by a rival militia in Zintan for nearly six years. The International Criminal Court sought to put him on trial for crimes against humanity over his alleged role in suppressing opposition protests in 2011.

In 2015, he was sentenced to death in absentia by a Tripoli court for his role in the crackdown, though he was later released by a militia in Tobruk under an amnesty law two years later.

Since the fall of Gaddafi, Libya has remained fractured, with rival militias controlling different areas and two governments vying for power.

During his father’s regime, Saif al-Islam shaped policy and led high-profile negotiations despite holding no official government role, including talks that led Muammar Gaddafi to abandon Libya’s nuclear weapons programme. These agreements helped lift international sanctions, with some viewing him as a reformist figure and the acceptable face of a changing Libya.

Saif al-Islam had consistently denied ambitions to inherit power from his father, once saying the reins of power were “not a farm to inherit.” In 2021, he announced he would run for the presidency, though the elections were later postponed indefinitely.

The circumstances of his death are still unfolding as Libya’s fragile political landscape continues to fuel uncertainty and conflict.

By Aghakazim Guliyev