Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, the son and former heir apparent of Libya’s late dictator Moammar Gadhafi, has been killed in northern Libya, Libyan 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 country’s chief prosecutor’s office said. An initial investigation confirmed the shooting but provided no further details on the circumstances.
Seif al-Islam’s lawyer, Khaled al-Zaidi, confirmed his death on Facebook without elaborating, and Abdullah Othman Abdurrahim, who represented him in a U.N.-brokered political dialogue to resolve Libya’s ongoing conflict, also announced it online.
In a statement, Seif al-Islam’s political team claimed that “four masked men” stormed his house and killed him in what they described as a “cowardly and treacherous assassination.” The statement said he fought the attackers, who disabled CCTV cameras in an apparent attempt to hide evidence.
Born in Tripoli in June 1972, Seif al-Islam was the second son of Moammar Gadhafi and studied for a Ph.D. at the London School of Economics. He was considered the reformist face of the Gadhafi regime.
Moammar Gadhafi was overthrown and killed in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011, which plunged Libya into a prolonged civil conflict. Seif al-Islam was captured by fighters in Zintan later that year while trying to flee to Niger and was released in June 2017 after receiving amnesty from one of Libya’s rival governments.
He had been sentenced to death in absentia in 2015 by a Libyan court for inciting violence and murdering protesters and was also wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity linked to the 2011 uprising.
In November 2021, Seif al-Islam announced his bid for Libya’s presidential election, a move that drew strong opposition from anti-Gadhafi political factions. Although the High National Elections Committee disqualified him, the election was never held due to ongoing disputes among rival administrations and armed groups controlling the country.
