Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, Son Of Libya’s Late Dictator, Killed In North Africa, Officials Say

In this Oct. 10, 2010 file photo, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, center, with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, right, and his Yemeni counterpart Ali Abdullah Saleh, left, pose during a group picture with Arab and African leaders during the second Afro-Arab summit in Sirte, Libya. In 2011, an uprising in Tunisia opened the way for a wave of popular revolts against authoritarian rulers across the Middle East known as the Arab Spring. For a brief window as leaders fell, it seemed the move toward greater democracy was irreversible. Instead, the region saw its most destructive decade of the modern era. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil, File)

Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, the son and one-time heir apparent of Libya ’s late dictator Moammar Gadhafi, was killed in the northern African country, Libyan officials said Tuesday.

The 53-year-old was killed in the town Zintan, 136 kilometers (85 miles) southwest of the capital, Tripoli, according to two Libyan security officials in western Libya. The circumstances of his death were not immediately clear.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

Khaled al-Zaidi, a lawyer for Seif al-Islam, confirmed his death on Facebook, without providing details.

Abdullah Othman Abdurrahim, who represented Gadhafi in the U.N.-brokered political dialogue which aimed to resolve Libya’s long-running conflict, also announced his death on Facebook.

Abdurrahim didn’t provide further details, but Libyan news outlet Fawasel Media cited him as saying that armed men killed Seif al-Islam in his home. The outlet reported that prosecutors were investigating the killing.

Born in June 1972, Seif al-Islam was the second-born son of the longtime dictator. He earned a PhD at the London School of Economics and was seen as the reformist face of the Gadhafi regime.

Moammar Gadhafi was toppled in a NATO-backed popular uprising in 2011 after more than 40 years in power. He was killed in October 2011 amid the ensuing fighting that would turn into a civil war.

Seif al-Islam was captured by fighters Zintan late in 2011 while attempting to flee to neighboring Niger. The fighters released him in June 2017 and had since lived in Zintan.

A Libyan court convicted him of inciting violence and murdering protesters, and sentenced him to death in absentia in 2015. He was also wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity related to the 2011 uprising.

(AP)