The son of former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, was killed on Tuesday, his political office reported, according to LETA citing DPA.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was killed in a "treacherous and cowardly" attack when four masked men stormed his residence in the city of Zintan in the west of the country, according to a statement from his office.
Lawyer Khaled al-Zaidi confirmed that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was "brutally killed in his own home."
According to Al-Arabiya TV, citing sources close to the family, the 53-year-old son of Gaddafi was shot in the garden of his residence.
Before the overthrow and death of his father in 2011, Gaddafi's second eldest son led a reform project for the political modernization of Libya aimed at rapprochement with the West. However, many of these efforts were soon rolled back to avoid upsetting the balance of power in Gaddafi's government.
Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and killed after months of mass protests, and Saif al-Islam supported the brutal crackdown on the uprising.
While trying to flee to Niger, Gaddafi Jr. was captured by militants and imprisoned in Zintan, where he spent several years.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has been seeking the extradition of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi since 2014 to stand trial for crimes against humanity committed during the Libyan uprising.
In 2015, a court in Tripoli sentenced him to death in absentia. However, the forces controlling Zintan did not hand him over to Tripoli or extradite him to the ICC.
In 2021, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi unexpectedly reappeared after a long absence and announced his candidacy for the planned presidential elections in Libya. These elections never took place due to disagreements over their constitutional basis and candidates. Libya remains de facto divided between two warring governments in the east and west of the country.
