Cameras Turned Off and Direct Clash... Details of the Last Hours of Saif al-Islam Qaddafi

SadaNews: The political team of Saif al-Islam Qaddafi revealed that the assassination attempt was carried out by the intrusion of four unknown armed men into his home in the city of Zintan (200 km southwest of the Libyan capital, Tripoli), on Tuesday afternoon.

This was stated in a statement issued by Saif al-Islam's political team and published by Abdullah Othman Qaddafi, a close associate of Saif and his cousin, through his Facebook page, describing the assassination as "a treacherous act carried out by sinful hands."

The team added that the four "cowardly" masked men invaded Saif al-Islam's residence and turned off the cameras, "in a desperate attempt to obscure the traces of their crime, leading to a direct clash with Saif, who confronted without a plan until God chose him to be with Him."

Saif al-Islam's lawyer, Frenchman Marcel Sicardi, stated that Saif's killing was by "a commando team of four." at his home in Zintan.

The lawyer explained to Agence France-Presse that he learned about security issues concerning Saif al-Islam from someone close to him about ten days ago.

Earlier, the head of his political team, Abdullah Othman, stated in press remarks that "four armed men invaded Saif al-Islam's residence and killed him after disabling the surveillance cameras," after previously suggesting Saif's death in a social media post without details.

Moussa Ibrahim, the former spokesman for the Qaddafi regime, condemned the act and described it as "a treacherous action," noting that he had spoken to Saif two days prior, and wrote on X platform that Saif al-Islam "wanted a united, sovereign, and secure Libya for all its residents; they assassinated hope and the future and sowed hatred."

For its part, the 444 Combat Brigade of the National Unity Government based in Tripoli denied any connection to the killing of Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, and announced in a statement its "categorical" denial regarding its relationship to the clashes that took place in Zintan and the accompanying news about Qaddafi's death.

The statement indicated that there had been no official instructions regarding pursuing Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, emphasizing that this matter is not within the brigade's "security and military" tasks. The brigade added that "it does not have any military force or field deployment within or in the geographical vicinity of Zintan, nor has any orders been issued to the brigade regarding pursuing Saif al-Islam."

Moreover, no government or judicial authority in the eastern and southern parts of the country has issued any accounts concerning the circumstances of Saif al-Islam's death, especially since his location was unknown until the announcement of his death.

It is noteworthy that Saif al-Islam (53 years old) is one of the sons of the late Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, and was considered a potential successor to his father for a long time before the regime's fall in 2011.

Saif al-Islam stood trial in Libya between 2012 and 2013, and was sentenced to death in 2015 on charges of genocide and suppressing protesters during the Libyan revolution. He is also wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity, with an international arrest warrant issued against him via Interpol.

He had previously been arrested in southern Libya and held for a long time by an armed group in Zintan, but they refused to hand him over to the judiciary, before releasing him in 2017. Despite being pursued, he announced his candidacy for the presidential election in 2021, relying on the support of the former regime's supporters, although the election was postponed.