Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, Son of Libya’s Former Leader Col Muammar Gaddafi, Assassinated

Gaddafi is believed to have been shot and killed on Tuesday, Feb. 3, in the western Libyan city of Zintan, where he had been based for the past decade.

The death of the 53-year-old, who was once widely regarded as his father’s heir apparent, was reported by the head of his political team on Tuesday, according to the Libyan News Agency.

His sister told Libyan TV that he had died near the country’s border with Algeria. She did not reveal how he died.

Khaled al-Mishri, the former head of the Tripoli-based High State Council, an internationally recognized government body, called for an “urgent and transparent investigation” into the killing in a social media post on Tuesday.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi never held an official position in Libya but was long seen as the most influential and feared figure in the country after his father, who ruled Libya from 1969 until he was ousted and killed during an uprising in 2011.

Gaddafi was captured and imprisoned in Zintan in 2011 after attempting to flee the North African country following the opposition’s takeover of Tripoli.

He was released in 2017 as part of a general pardon.