Saif al-Islamthe son of Libya’s former ruler Muammar al-Gaddafi, is dead. On Tuesday evening he was shot dead by four assassins in the city of Zintan. The perpetrators had cut the cables from the surveillance cameras in his house, which is normally guarded by numerous security forces, and fled undetected.
Video footage shows the 53-year-old’s body on a police pickup truck in the city southwest of Libya’s capital Tripoli. On Wednesday, Tripoli judicial authorities confirmed his death and handed over the body to his family.
Saif al-Islam had lived in seclusion in Zintan and the surrounding Nafusa Mountains with his wife and their child for ten years. He only appeared publicly in court and during his presidential campaign at the end of 2021 – the elections were then canceled at the last minute.
The “Phantom of Zintan” continued to be seen as a charismatic beacon of hope by his father’s still numerous followers, the “Green Movement”. Muammar al-Gaddafi, who ruled Libya dictatorially from 1969, was overthrown and killed by rebels in a civil war in 2011, and the country has not regained stability since then.
Some celebrate, others mourn
The rumor about the murder already led to violent reactions across the country. Militias drove into the port city of Misrata, the stronghold of the 2011 uprising against Gaddafi celebrating through the streets. In Sebha and other places in the southern Sahara province of Fezzan, many people gathered in mourning.
Libya has been effectively divided for years, since the end of the recent war 2020 There is a ceasefire and a kind of political vacuum between the rival power blocs in eastern and western Libya. The mandate of the parliament meeting in eastern Libya and a shadow government have expired, as has the term of office of the internationally recognized interim prime minister Abdelhamid Dbaiba in Tripoli in the west of the country.
Others are considered to be the true rulers. Field Marshal CCaliph Haftar and his sons control the east and south with their highly armed LNA (Libyan Arab National Army). In the West, the militia cartels of Tripoli and Misrata have the greatest political influence.
Absurdly, all warring parties are being paid by the Libyan central bank. Abundant oil revenues maintain Libya’s division. Meanwhile, ordinary citizens can only withdraw a limited amount of money from their bank accounts, the cost of living has risen sharply, but wages have not. “For the first time there is poverty in Libya,” says journalist Mohamed Masri from Tripoli. “Many people want to get rid of the entire political elite and have a fresh start.”
In the eyes of many, Saif al-Islam represented a possible new beginning. Gaddafi’s opponents also saw his son as one of the few personalities who could reunite the country. Haftar, who besieged and attacked Tripoli for years before 2020, is considered unelectable in the West, while in eastern Libya Dbaiba is considered a henchman of Islamists.
Sinister role in the Arab Spring
Saif al-Islam really sparked the armed uprising against his father Muammar in February 2011. Regime arbitrariness, corruption and economic concerns had driven many people onto the streets in Benghazi and Tripoli, encouraged by the fall of the autocrats in the neighboring countries of Tunisia and Egypt through the popular uprisings of the Arab Spring.
Three days after the start of the initially peaceful street protests in Libya and angry threats from his father, Saif al-Islam appeared in front of the cameras. The Libyans hoped that he would moderate his father’s harsh course or even take over his office. But with his so-called “Rivers of Blood” speech he also went on a confrontation course with the demonstrators.
“We will cut off your electricity, water and gas,” warned Gaddafi’s son, while a kilometer-long column of tanks was already on its way to Misrata and Benghazi. The speech and the marching orders of the tanks led to a few months later Arrest warrant against Saif al-Islam by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.
Gaddafi’s tanks were stopped by French Mirage fighter jets, NATO helped Libya’s rebels. Six months later, Muammar Gaddafi paid with his life. Revolutionaries from Misrata tortured him to death and put his body on public display. Saif al-Islam and a few confidants tried to make their way to the south of Libya disguised as Tuaregs.
But in Zintan the small group was discovered. Insurgents cut off the three fingers that he had held up to the cameras in his infamous TV speech. He was not transferred to The Hague; the ICC allowed Libya to try Saif al-Islam in Tripoli.
In 2015 he was connected to the courtroom via video from Zintan. He was sentenced to death for crimes against humanity, but his captors refused to hand him over. He stayed in Zintan. In 2021, when elections were scheduled in Libya, he ran as a presidential candidate and was considered the favorite. The elections were canceled at short notice due to threats from militias.
“He remains a symbol, as absurd as it seems”
Saif al-Islam had studied in London, earned a doctorate there in 2008, and had been attracting well-educated expatriate Libyans to the country since the mid-1990s with his “New Libya” program. Investors from all over the world followed. He could have become the symbol of a new, modern Libya, or at least that’s how he once saw himself.
But well-informed circles from Zintan that the taz spoke to dismissed the idea. Saif al-Islam was ultimately only a shadow of his former self due to the long imprisonment in Zintan and the torture. “But, as absurd as it seems, he remains the symbol for many Libyans who want an end to militia rule,” says a journalist from Zintan.
With the death of Gaddafi’s son, those in power in Tripoli and Benghazi have lost a competitor. Haftar, who once served as army chief under Gaddafi, is likely to benefit most from the death of Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi. He integrated many members of the “Green Movement” into his army.