Cairo, Feb 4: Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, the son and former heir apparent of Libya’s late dictator Moammar Gadhafi, was killed in northern Libya, officials confirmed Tuesday.
The 53-year-old was shot dead in the town of Zintan, about 136 kilometers (85 miles) southwest of the capital, Tripoli, the Libyan chief prosecutor’s office said. The statement did not provide further details about the circumstances of his death.
Khaled al-Zaidi, Gadhafi’s lawyer, confirmed the death on Facebook without additional information. Abdullah Othman Abdurrahim, who represented him in U.N.-brokered talks aimed at ending Libya’s conflict, also announced the news on Facebook.
Seif al-Islam’s political team released a statement saying “four masked men” stormed his house and killed him in a “cowardly and treacherous assassination.” The statement added that he resisted the attackers, who disabled the CCTV cameras in an attempt to conceal evidence of the crime.
Born in June 1972 in Tripoli, Seif al-Islam was the second son of the longtime dictator. He earned a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics and was viewed as the reformist face of the Gadhafi regime.
Moammar Gadhafi was ousted and killed in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 after more than 40 years in power. Since then, Libya has been mired in conflict and divided between rival armed groups and militias.
Seif al-Islam was captured in Zintan in late 2011 while trying to flee to Niger and was released in June 2017 after being granted amnesty by one of Libya’s rival governments. A Libyan court sentenced him to death in absentia in 2015 for inciting violence and murdering protesters, and he was also wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
In November 2021, he announced his candidacy in Libya’s presidential election, a move opposed by anti-Gadhafi political factions. Although the country’s High National Elections Committee disqualified him, the elections were never held due to disputes between rival administrations and armed groups. (Agencies)
