❓WHAT HAPPENED: Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, was reportedly shot and killed in Libya.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, Abdullah Othman (Gaddafi’s political adviser), and Libyan authorities.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The incident occurred in Zintan, western Libya, where Gaddafi had been based for a decade.
💬KEY QUOTE: “We fight here in Libya, we die here in Libya.” – Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, 2011.
🎯IMPACT: Throughout the 2011 uprising, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi remained defiant, warning of “rivers of blood” and the destruction of Libya.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, has been killed in the Libyan city of Zintan. The 53-year-old’s death in an apparent assassination was confirmed by his political adviser, Abdullah Othman, though details surrounding the incident remain unclear, and Libyan authorities have not issued any official statements.
Gaddafi, though he never held an official position, was widely seen as his father’s second-in-command from 2000 until 2011, when Muammar Gaddafi was killed by militants with the anti-Gaddafi National Transitional Council (NTC). Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was captured in Zintan that same year while attempting to flee the country. After being imprisoned, he was released in 2017 as part of a general pardon.
Educated in the West, including earning a PhD from the London School of Economics in 2008, Gaddafi sought to present a modernized image of Libya and worked to repair relations with Western nations. However, his role during his father’s regime and the 2011 uprising led to allegations of crimes against humanity, including torture and violence against opposition figures. The International Criminal Court (ICC) sought his prosecution, and in 2015, a Tripoli court sentenced him to death in absentia.
Throughout the 2011 uprising, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi remained defiant, warning of “rivers of blood” and the destruction of Libya. “We fight here in Libya, we die here in Libya,” he said at the time. Following his release in 2017, Gaddafi went underground in Zintan, avoiding assassination attempts while maintaining contact with allies inside and outside Libya, and attempting a political comeback.
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