The Libyan prosecutor's office announced Thursday evening that it had identified three suspects in the assassination of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi at the beginning of February, without providing details about their identity or nationality, notes AFP, taken over by Agerpres.
The investigation launched after the crime established “the meeting place of the suspects, the time at which they arrived at the scene of the crime and committed it (…), as well as the identity of three suspects”, stated the Prosecutor's Office in a statement published on Facebook, adding that it had ordered their arrest.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity, was assassinated on February 3 in Zintan, in western Libya.
Killed in his own home
Long considered a potential successor to his father before the fall of the regime in 2011, the 53-year-old has struggled to cultivate an image as a moderate and reformer. This reputation was shattered when he promised bloodshed at the beginning of the rebellion.
According to the Prosecutor's Office, the investigation confirmed that the son of Muammar Gaddafi was riddled with bullets.
In the press release, it is announced that the perpetrators of the crime monitored Saif al-Islam Gaddafi's every move, scaled a wall of the house where he lived, surrounded him, then pointed the machine guns at him and killed him.
His French lawyer told AFP that he was killed by a four-person hit squad.
Even if his assassination, in a context of divisions and political rivalries, did not completely surprise Libyans, some wonder who ordered it.
A controversial figure
Born in 1972, he played a key role in bringing Libya closer to the West from 2000 until the fall of the Gaddafi regime.
After his father's ouster, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi – who was accused of playing a key role in the brutal crackdown on anti-government protests – was imprisoned by a rival militia in the town of Zintan for nearly six years.
The International Criminal Court wanted to try him for crimes against humanity for his role in suppressing opposition protests in 2011.
In 2015, he was sentenced to death in absentia for his role in the crackdown by a court in Tripoli, in the west of the country, where control is in the hands of the UN-backed government. But he was released by the militia in Tobruk, in the east, under an amnesty law two years later.
Since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi, Libya has struggled to regain stability and unity, having been divided into areas controlled by various militias and currently divided between two rival governments.
