Seif al-Islam, 53, seen as Muammar Gaddafi’s successor, was killed by commando team, his lawyer says

Seif al-Islam Gaddafi appears in front of supporters and journalists at his father's residential complex in the Libyan capital Tripoli in 2011. The son of Libya's deposed longtime ruler has died, Libyan media reported. Photo / Imed Lamloum, AFP

Seif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of Libya’s late dictator, was killed today by a “four-man commando” in his home in western Libya’s Zintan, his French lawyer, Marcel Ceccaldi, told AFP.

“For now, we don’t know” who was behind the killing, Ceccaldi said, adding that he was told by one of Seif al-Islam’s close associates about 10 days ago “that there were problems with his security”.

Gaddafi’s adviser Abdullah Othman Abdurrahim told Al-Ahrar TV channel that Seif al-Islam was killed in his house by a group of four unidentified men.

“Four armed men stormed the residence of Seif al-Islam Gaddafi after disabling surveillance cameras, then executed him,” Abdurrahim was reported as saying.

Seif al-Islam, 53, had been seen as his father’s successor.

While he held no official position in the north African country under his father Muammar Gaddafi’s rule, he had been described as Libya’s de facto prime minister, cultivating an image of moderation and reform prior to the 2011 Arab Spring revolt.

That reputation soon collapsed when he promised “rivers of blood” in the face of the uprisings.

He was arrested in November 2011 in southern Libya following a warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

He was sentenced to death in 2015 after a speedy trial but was granted amnesty.

In 2021, he announced he would run for president, but those elections were indefinitely postponed.

Libya expert Emadeddin Badi said Seif al-Islam’s death was “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”.

“His candidacy and potential success had been a central point of contention,” Badi wrote on X.

Muammar Gaddafi’s last spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim, also posted on the social network: “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.”

Libya has struggled to recover from chaos that erupted after a Nato-backed uprising in 2011 overthrew Muammar Gaddafi.

Libya remains divided between a United Nations-backed government based in Tripoli and an eastern administration backed by Khalifa Haftar.

-Agence France-Presse