Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, 53, the most prominent son of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi and long viewed as the regime’s heir, was inside his home in the mountain city of Zintan, 136 km south-west of Tripoli, when armed intruders stormed the property.
He had been fasting and speaking by phone with members of his political team when he noticed the attackers. “We have intruders,” he reportedly said seconds before gunfire erupted.
Armed attack inside his home
Four masked men entered the residence, disabled security cameras and shot him. Libyan prosecutors confirmed that gunfire caused his death.
Saif al-Islam’s political team described the killing as “cowardly and treacherous”. His lawyer, Khaled al-Zaidi, and political adviser, Abdullah Othman, confirmed the news within hours. Authorities have launched an investigation, but officials have announced no arrests and no group has claimed responsibility.
A controversial political figure
Educated in the West, Saif al-Islam spent years portrayed as a reformist face of the former regime. After 2011, he backed his father, faced accusations of crimes against humanity from the International Criminal Court and militia forces in Zintan captured him.
A court sentenced him to death in 2015, although authorities never carried out the sentence. He secured release in 2017 and then lived under protection or house restriction in the same city. In 2021, he attempted to run for president, but officials rejected his candidacy, contributing to the collapse of planned elections.
Fears of wider instability
Libya remains divided between rival administrations in Tripoli and the east, while hundreds of armed groups control territory and resources. Even without formal power, Saif al-Islam served as a symbol for supporters of the former regime and for those seeking a political alternative to current factions.
His violent death may trigger revenge attacks from pro-Gaddafi networks, spark renewed clashes in western Libya – where Zintan holds strong autonomy – and deepen instability ahead of any renewed attempt to hold national elections.
No party has yet been identified as responsible. As long as the question of who carried out the Saif al-Islam killing remains unanswered, Libya risks sliding further into unrest.
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