Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the 53-year-old son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has reportedly been shot dead with conflicting reports placing his death either near the Libya-Algeria border or at his home in Zintan allegedly by a four-man commando unit,though the perpetrators remain unknown.

Once seen as his father’s heir apparent, Saif played a key role in Libya’s rapprochement with the West and shaped high-profile policy despite holding no official government position. After the 2011 uprising that ousted his father, he was jailed for six years by a rival militia, faced an International Criminal Court indictment for crimes against humanity and was sentenced to death in absentia by a Tripoli court in 2015 before being released under an amnesty in 2017.

Libya remains politically fragmented, divided between rival governments, and Saif had declared his intention to run for the presidency in 2021 elections that were later postponed indefinitely.