Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, a prominent son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, was killed on Tuesday after an attack by “masked men” at his residence in Libya, according to multiple reports.
The 53-year-old was shot dead in the northwestern town of Zintan, sources close to his family said.
His lawyer, Khaled al-Zaydi, along with Libyan media outlets, confirmed the incident.
According to a statement issued by his political team, “Four masked men” forced their way into his home and carried out what was described as a “cowardly and treacherous assassination”.
Mr Al-Zaidi also confirmed the death in a Facebook post, without giving additional details.
Reports said Saif al-Islam confronted the attackers after they disabled the property’s CCTV system “in a desperate attempt to conceal traces of their heinous crimes”.
His cousin, Hamid Kadhafi, said Saif al-Islam had “fallen as a martyr”, adding that the location of the compound had been intended to remain secret.
Zintan lies about 136 kilometres (85 miles) southwest of the Libyan capital, Tripoli.
Saif al-Islam was long regarded as the most influential of Muammar Gaddafi’s sons and was widely viewed as his potential successor until the longtime ruler was overthrown and killed during the October 2011 uprising.
Born in June 1972 in Tripoli, he was the second son of Muammar Gaddafi and his second wife, Safia Farkash. He played a significant role within his father’s inner circle and frequently acted as an informal diplomat for the regime.
Fluent in English, Saif al-Islam pursued doctoral studies at the London School of Economics and was often portrayed as the reform-minded face of the Gaddafi government.
Following the collapse of his father’s rule, he was captured by anti-Gaddafi fighters in November 2011 and held by a rival militia in Zintan for nearly six years.
He was freed in June 2017 after receiving amnesty from one of Libya’s competing administrations and remained in the town thereafter.
In 2015, a Libyan court sentenced Saif al-Islam to death in absentia over charges linked to the violent suppression of protests and the killing of demonstrators during the 2011 revolution.
He was also the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, which accused him of crimes against humanity connected to the uprising.
In November 2021, Saif al-Islam announced his intention to run for president, a move that sparked widespread criticism from anti-Gaddafi factions across both western and eastern Libya.
However, Libya’s High National Elections Committee later disqualified him from the race. The planned elections were ultimately postponed amid disagreements among rival authorities and armed groups that have governed the country since the fall of the Gaddafi regime.
Libya has remained deeply divided since 2011, with power split among a UN-backed unity government, eastern-based rivals and various militia forces, while repeated efforts to hold elections and achieve political reconciliation have failed to make lasting progress.
