Slain son of former Libya ruler Gaddafi for burial near capital

The slain son of former Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi will be buried in a town south of the capital that remains loyal to the family, relatives said Thursday.

Seif al-Islam Gaddafi, once seen by some as Libya’s heir apparent, was shot dead on Tuesday in the northwestern city of Zintan.

The burial will be held on Friday in the town of Bani Walid some 175 kilometres south of Tripoli, two of his brothers said.

“The date and location of his burial have been decided by mutual agreement among the family,” half-brother Mohamed Gaddafi said in a Facebook post.

Mohamed said the plan reflected “our respect” for the town, which has remained loyal to the elder Gaddafi years after he was toppled and killed in the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings.

Each year, the town of about 100,000 celebrates the anniversary of a 1969 coup that brought Muammar to power, parading through the streets holding the ex-leader’s portrait.

Saadi Gaddafi, a younger brother, said his dead sibling will be “buried among the Werfalla”, an influential local tribe, in a grave next to his brother Khamis Gaddafi, who died during the 2011 unrest.

Marcel Ceccaldi, a French 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.

Seif al-Islam had long been widely seen as his father’s heir. Under the elder Gaddafi’s iron-fisted 40-year rule, he was described as the de facto prime minister, cultivating an image of moderation and reform despite holding no official position.

But that reputation soon collapsed when he promised “rivers of blood” in retaliation for the 2011 uprising.

He was arrested that year on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity, and a Tripoli court later sentenced him to death, although he was later granted amnesty.

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

He is survived by four out of six siblings: Mohamed, Saadi, Aicha and Hannibal, who was recently released from a Lebanese prison on bail.

Libya has struggled to recover from chaos that erupted after the 2011 uprising. It remains split between a UN-backed government based in Tripoli and an eastern administration backed by Khalifa Haftar.

AFP

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