Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, has reportedly been killed in Libya.
An Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent said Gaddafi is “believed to have been shot and killed in the western Libyan city of Zintan,” Al Jazeera reports.
He was based there for the past decade.
JUST IN – Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, has been killed — Reuters pic.twitter.com/w1YLYu8j1I
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) February 3, 2026
Al Jazeera has more:
The 53-year-old’s killing was confirmed by his political adviser, Abdullah Othman, but the exact circumstances of his death remain unclear.
Khaled al-Mishri, the former head of the Tripoli-based High State Council, an internationally recognised government body, called for an “urgent and transparent investigation” into the killing in a social media post on Tuesday.
ADVERTISEMENTGaddafi never had an official position in Libya, but was considered to be his father’s number two from 2000 until 2011, when Muammar Gaddafi was killed by Libyan opposition forces that ended his decades-long rule.
Gaddafi was captured and imprisoned in Zintan in 2011 after attempting to flee the North African country following the opposition’s takeover of Tripoli.
He was released in 2017 as part of a general pardon.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi “unsuccessfully sought Libya’s presidency following his father’s death,” the outlet noted.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, has been killed in Zintan. The 53-year-old former presidential candidate was shot dead under mysterious circumstances, reports Al Jazeera Arabic. pic.twitter.com/GyFAFJNa4n
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) February 3, 2026
The Times of Israel shared further:
Hamid Gaddafi, his cousin, told Al-Ahrar TV he had “fallen as a martyr.”
His last spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim, posted on X: “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.”
Born in June 1972 in Tripoli, Seif al-Islam was the second-born son of the longtime dictator. He studied for a PhD at the London School of Economics and was seen as the reformist face of the Gaddafi regime.
ADVERTISEMENTMuammar Gaddafi was toppled in a NATO-backed popular uprising in 2011 after more than 40 years in power. He was killed in October 2011 amid the ensuing fighting that would turn into a civil war. The country has since plunged into chaos and is divided between rival armed groups and militias.
What’s your reaction?
