Libya: Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi, Son of Former Libyan Leader, Killed
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the 53-year-old son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, has been reportedly shot dead.
His lawyer, Khaled al-Zaidi, said that a four-man commando unit assassinated him at his home in Zintan, though it was not clear who may have been behind the attack. His sister offered a conflicting account, claiming that he died near the Algerian border.
Gaddafi was long seen as the most influential and feared figure in the country after his father, who ruled Libya from 1969 until being ousted and killed during an uprising in 2011. 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 fall, he was imprisoned for six years by a Zintan militia, sentenced to death in absentia in Tripoli. He was released in 2017 as part of a general pardon and had lived in Zintan since.
The International Criminal Court wanted to put him on trial for crimes against humanity for his alleged role in the suppression of opposition protests in 2011.
By Allafrica
