Seif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of Libya’s late longtime ruler Moamer Gaddafi, has been killed by gunmen, his adviser said on Tuesday, with relatives also confirming his death.
Abdullah Othman Abdurrahim told Al-Ahrar TV that Seif al-Islam was killed inside his home by four unidentified men.
“Four armed men stormed the residence of Seif al-Islam Gaddafi after disabling surveillance cameras, then executed him,” Abdurrahim said.
Further confirmation came from his French lawyer, Marcel Ceccaldi, who told AFP that Seif al-Islam was killed on Tuesday by a “four-man commando” at his home in Zintan, western Libya.
“For now, we don’t know who was behind the killing,” Ceccaldi said, adding that one of Seif al-Islam’s close associates had warned about security concerns around him about ten days earlier.
Media reports said he was killed in Zintan, in northwestern Libya, although his whereabouts had long been unclear.
His cousin, Hamid Gaddafi, told Al-Ahrar TV that Seif al-Islam had “fallen as a martyr”.
Seif al-Islam, 53, was long viewed as his father’s possible successor. In 2021, he announced plans to run for president, but the elections were later postponed indefinitely.
Although he held no official post under his father’s rule, he was often described as Libya’s de facto prime minister and had cultivated an image of moderation and reform before the 2011 Arab Spring uprising.
That image collapsed when he threatened “rivers of blood” in response to the revolt.
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He was arrested in November 2011 in southern Libya following a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court. A Tripoli court sentenced him to death in 2015 after a brief trial, but he was later granted amnesty.
Libya expert Emadeddin Badi said Seif al-Islam’s killing was likely to affect the country’s political future.
“His death is likely to cast him as a martyr for a significant segment of the population, while also shifting electoral dynamics by removing a major obstacle to presidential elections,” Badi wrote on X.
Moamer Gaddafi’s last spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim, also reacted on social media, saying: “They killed him treacherously. He wanted a united, sovereign Libya, safe for all its people.”
“I spoke with him two days ago. He spoke of nothing but a peaceful Libya and the safety of its people,” Ibrahim added.
Libya has struggled to recover from the turmoil that followed the NATO-backed uprising in 2011 that overthrew Moamer Gaddafi.
The country remains divided between a UN-backed government in Tripoli and an eastern administration supported by Khalifa Haftar.
AFP