Unconfirmed reports circulating in Libyan media on Tuesday, February 3, claim that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, has been killed in the western city of Zintan, where he had reportedly been based for several years.
According to accounts attributed to members of his political circle and comments aired on Libyan television by a family member, Gaddafi was said to have died near Libya’s border with Algeria. However, no official statement has been issued by Libyan authorities, and independent verification of the claim remains unclear at the time of reporting.
Khaled al-Mishri, former head of the Tripoli-based High State Council, called for an “urgent and transparent investigation” into the alleged incident, urging authorities to clarify the circumstances.
Saif al-Islam, 53, was long viewed as a prominent and controversial figure in Libya, widely considered his father’s likely successor before the 2011 uprising that ended Muammar Gaddafi’s four-decade rule. He was captured later that year in Zintan while attempting to flee the country and remained in detention there for years before being released in 2017 under a general pardon.
In the years that followed, he remained a politically sensitive figure in Libya’s fractured landscape, occasionally re-emerging in public discourse, including around discussions of elections and national reconciliation.
As of now, the reports surrounding his alleged death remain unverified, and further confirmation from credible sources is awaited.