Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the most prominent son of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, has been killed, sources close to the family, his lawyer Khaled al-Zaidi and Libyan media reported on Tuesday.
FILE PHOTO: Saif al-Islam, son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, smiles as he greets supporters in Tripoli this August, 2011 (Reuters)Libya’s attorney general’s office said on Wednesday that investigators and forensic doctors examined Saif al-Islam Gaddafi’s body on Tuesday and determined that he died of gunshot wounds, Reuters reported.
Muammar Gaddafi, Libya’s former de facto leader, was killed in October 2011 in a NATO-backed uprising in his hometown of Sirte, marking the end of his 42-year rule and the first Libyan civil war.
Libya’s attorney general’s office said it was working to identify the suspects and take appropriate steps to bring criminal charges.
Who was Saif Al Islam?Born in 1972, Saif al-Islam became the country’s most influential and feared figure after his father, Gaddafi, who had ruled Libya since 1969.
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Saif al-Islam is credited with playing a key role in thawing Libya’s relations with the West from 2000 until the fall of the Gaddafi regime.
Although Saif al-Islam is well-known in the North African country, particularly for his role in shaping policy before 2011, the year his father was killed, his public profile has declined in recent years.
In 2015, a Libyan court sentenced Saif al-Islam to death in absentia for suppressing peaceful protests during the country’s 2011 revolution that ended his father’s rule.
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He has been provisionally indicted by the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity, a case his lawyers have failed to dismiss, Reuters reports.
In 2021, Saif al-Islam nominated himself as a presidential candidate for the December vote that ultimately collapsed into political deadlock.
