Saif al-Islam Gaddafi assassinated

The Socialist Bulletin Staff - 4/2/2026

SAIF al-Islam Gaddafi, son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, was assassinated yesterday, amidst ongoing instability in the North African country.

Mr Gaddafi was the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Libya, the largest anti-American and Gaddafi-loyalist organisation in Libya since 2011.

Gaddafi's team told local media that '4 masked men' shot Gaddafi in his home 136km away from Libya's capital, Tripoli. They described the killing as 'treacherous' and 'cowardly'.

Mr Gaddafi had never previously held a position in government in Libya, but was considered by the West to be Muammar Gaddafi's second in command from 2000 until western-backed rebels overthrew the Gaddafi government. He was also the heir-apparent for the senior Gaddafi's leadership positions.

He was captured during the Western-backed rebel offensives in 2011, and was held in prison until a general pardon issued in 2017.

In the few polls taken recently in the North African country, Mr Gaddafi was a leading candidate, indicating that the post-Jamahiriya system, which has been set back by over a decade of civil war and rival governments and rebel groups, is unpopular, and that Libyans seek the stability and to an extent greater democratic control that the Jamahiriya system granted to them.

While, at the time of writing, it is unknown who killed Mr Gaddafi, it is unlikely that Gaddafi's political beliefs were unrelated to the killing.