Libya’s Attorney General’s Office has issued arrest warrants for three suspects in connection with the assassination of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was shot dead at his home in Zintan on February 3.
The warrants were announced on Thursday, March 5, following the completion of preliminary investigations and the collection of forensic evidence. Saif al-Islam was killed by four armed men who stormed his residence in Zintan, approximately 136 kilometres southwest of the capital Tripoli.
According to investigators, the attackers scaled the perimeter wall of the residence and lay in ambush inside the compound, opening fire with automatic weapons in the courtyard where the victim had little room to escape. At least three other people were killed in the attack, including a local militia commander who was providing security at the site and a guard.
The killing ended the life of one of Libya’s most polarising post-revolution figures. After the fall of Tripoli in 2011, Saif al-Islam evaded capture for several months before being detained by a Zintan militia in November 2011. He remained in custody there until June 2017, when the militia announced his release under a general amnesty law passed by Libya’s House of Representatives. A Tripoli court had sentenced him to death in absentia for war crimes in 2015, while the International Criminal Court (ICC) had maintained an outstanding arrest warrant against him since 2011 for alleged crimes against humanity committed during the crackdown on the uprising.
In November 2021, he reemerged publicly to register as a candidate in Libya’s long-delayed presidential election. His candidacy sharply divided opinion, with supporters portraying him as a symbol of stability and opponents denouncing him as a reminder of authoritarian rule. The election was later postponed indefinitely amid political deadlock and security concerns.
Amnesty International, responding to the killing, said it underscored the inability and unwillingness of Libya’s justice system to ensure accountability, describing the assassination as part of a broader pattern of political killings that deny victims and their families the right to truth and justice through fair trials.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack. The three named suspects have not yet been apprehended.
