Moammar Gaddafi’s assassinated son in Libya was a PhD holder and famously kept a pet tiger
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi kept tigers, practiced falcon hunting, and socialized with Britain’s elite during his visits to London.
According to the Saudi Arabian broadcaster Al Arabiya, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, was killed in Libya on Tuesday.
The 53-year-old was reportedly shot dead in the garden of his home in the northwestern city of Zintan. Libya’s state news agency reported that four assailants allegedly broke into his home, disabled security cameras, and carried out the killing.
His French lawyer told AFP that he could not confirm who was behind the assassination.
Saif Gaddafi had been living in Zintan for the past ten years. Once considered his father’s heir apparent, he was wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity related to the NATO-backed civil uprising against his father, Muammar Gaddafi, in 2011.
In 2021, he announced his intention to run for president, but the Libyan elections were postponed indefinitely.
Who was Saif al-Islam Gaddafi?
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was born in 1972 and was the second son of Muammar Gaddafi, Libya’s longtime ruler. Gaddafi ruled the country from 1969 until he was killed by a mob in broad daylight in 2011.
He reportedly earned an engineering degree from Al-Fateh University in Tripoli in 1994. After being denied student visas by several countries, including France and Canada, he pursued an MBA at the IMADEC Business School in Vienna.
He acted as a mediator for Libya in high-profile, sensitive diplomatic missions and led negotiations with Western countries on the country’s decision to abandon its weapons of mass destruction program.
In 1988, he also negotiated compensation for the families of those killed in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland.
In the late 1990s and 2000s, he became a key figure among his father’s inner circle, and despite holding no formal government position, he was considered the de facto prime minister and second most powerful man in Libya from 2000 to 2011.
He headed the Gaddafi family’s charitable foundation and was believed to have influence over the Libyan Investment Authority, although he denied this, giving him access to vast financial resources. In 2008, he received a PhD from the London School of Economics and publicly advocated for political reform.
He owned tigers, hunted with falcons, and socialized with members of British high society during his visits to London.
During the Arab Spring in 2011, when Libyans protested against his father, he was a staunch supporter of the regime and vowed to fight the rebel forces to the end. The International Criminal Court has accused him of crimes against humanity, alleging that he helped plan and direct the killing and persecution of civilians during the violent suppression of anti-government protests in Libya in February 2011.
When the rebellion against his father began in 2011, he immediately sided with his family and tribe and took a hardline stance against the rebels. “We fight here in Libya; we die here in Libya,” he declared, warning that blood would be shed and the government would fight everyone.
According to Reuters, he said on television, “The whole of Libya will be destroyed. It will take 40 years to agree on how to run this country, because today everyone wants to be president or rich, and everyone wants to run the country.”
After several months on the run, he was captured on November 19, 2011, in southern Libya, weeks after the killing of the elder Gaddafi by rebel forces in Sirte.
Following his capture, he was held by a local militia in Zintan, where he remained for several years and was seen with visible injuries, including missing fingers.
In 2014, he was put on trial in Tripoli for crimes related to the 2011 uprising. In July 2015, a Libyan court sentenced him to death by firing squad in absentia. In 2017, after nearly six years in captivity, he was released under an amnesty law issued by the eastern Libyan authorities.
