Libya probes killing of late ruler Gaddafi’s son

TRIPOLI: Libyan prosecutors said Wednesday they were investigating the killing of Seif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of slain ruler Muammar Gaddafi, in the city of Zintan.

The public prosecutor’s office said forensic experts had been dispatched to Zintan in northwest Libya, where he was shot dead, adding that efforts were underway to identify suspects.

“The victim died from wounds by gunfire,” the office said in a statement, adding that investigators were looking to “speak to witnesses and anyone who may be able to shed light on the incident”.

Marcel Ceccaldi, a lawyer who had been representing Seif al-Islam, told AFP he was killed by an unidentified “four-man commando” who stormed his house on Tuesday.

The head of the Presidential Council, a transitional body supposed to represent all of divided Libya under a UN agreement, urged “political forces, the media and social actors to show restraint in public statements and to avoid incitement to hate”.

READ MORE: Son of Libya longtime ruler Gaddafi dead

“We call on all political forces to wait for the results of the official investigation,” a statement by Mohamed al-Menfi said, referring to Seif al-Islam as a “presidential candidate”.

The younger Gaddafi, 53, had been seen by some as his father’s successor.

Menfi added that escalation could “undermine efforts at national reconciliation and the holding of free and fair elections”.

Libya has struggled to recover from chaos that erupted after a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 overthrew Muammar Gaddafi.

It remains split between a UN-backed government based in Tripoli and an eastern administration backed by Khalifa Haftar.

Seif al-Islam was arrested in November 2011 in southern Libya following a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for alleged crimes against humanity.

A Tripoli court later sentenced him to death in 2015 after a speedy trial, but he was granted amnesty.

In 2021 he announced he would run for president, but the elections were indefinitely postponed.

No information has been released on his burial, but his adviser Abdullah Othman Abdurrahim told Libyan media that an autopsy had been completed and he could be buried in Bani Walid, south of the capital Tripoli.

Moussa al-Kouni, vice-president of the Presidential Council who represents Libya’s Fezzan region, wrote on X: “No to political assassinations, no to achieving demands by force, and no to violence as a language or a means of expression.”