Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, the son and once presumed successor of Libya’s longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi, has been killed, Libyan officials said Tuesday.
The 53-year-old died in the town of Zintan, about 85 miles southwest of the capital, Tripoli, according to two security officials in western Libya. The exact circumstances surrounding his death were not immediately known.
Khaled al-Zaidi, a lawyer for Seif al-Islam, confirmed the news in a Facebook post but did not share further details. His cousin, Hamid Kadhafi, told the Libyan network al-Ahrar that he had “fallen as a martyr.”
Abdullah Othman Abdurrahim, who represented Seif al-Islam during a United Nations–mediated political dialogue aimed at resolving Libya’s long-running conflict, also announced his death on Facebook. While he did not elaborate, Libyan outlet Fawasel Media cited him as saying that armed men killed Seif al-Islam in his home. Prosecutors were reportedly investigating the killing.
Born in June 1972 in Tripoli, Seif al-Islam was the second son of Moammar Gadhafi. He pursued doctoral studies at the London School of Economics and was often portrayed as a reform-minded figure within the Gadhafi government.
Moammar Gadhafi was ousted during a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 after more than four decades in power and was killed later that year amid fighting that spiraled into civil war. Since then, Libya has remained deeply divided among rival governments, militias, and armed groups.
Before 2011, Seif al-Islam cultivated an image of moderation and reform, but that perception changed during the uprising when he warned of severe retaliation against protesters.
He was captured by fighters from Zintan in late 2011 while attempting to flee toward Niger. In June 2017, he was released after one of Libya’s competing authorities granted him amnesty, and he remained in Zintan afterward. In 2015, a Libyan court sentenced him to death in absentia for inciting violence and the killing of protesters. The International Criminal Court also sought his arrest on charges of crimes against humanity related to the 2011 conflict.
In November 2021, Seif al-Islam announced plans to run in Libya’s presidential election, a move that drew strong opposition from anti-Gadhafi groups across the country. The election has since been repeatedly postponed. Last year, another son of Moammar Gadhafi was freed after spending a decade in prison in Lebanon.