By Spy Uganda
Thousands of mourners gathered on Friday in the Libyan town of Bani Walid for the burial of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the slain son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, in a stronghold that has long remained loyal to the late ruler.
Saif al-Islam was shot dead at his home in the northwestern city of Zintan on Tuesday, according to sources close to the family. His killing came nearly 15 years after his father was toppled and killed in a 2011 NATO-backed uprising.
The burial, held about 175 kilometres south of Tripoli, drew large crowds of Gaddafi loyalists, underscoring the enduring divisions in Libya more than a decade after the uprising that plunged the country into prolonged instability.
Libya remains split between the United Nations-backed Government of National Unity led by Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dbeibah in Tripoli and a rival eastern administration allied to military commander Khalifa Haftar.
Prime Minister Dbeibah condemned the killing, warning that “assassinations never provide stability, but instead deepen division”. His Interior Ministry said security measures had been put in place to ensure the safety of the funeral in the town of about 100,000 people.
Bani Walid has remained a symbolic centre of pro-Gaddafi sentiment. Each year, residents commemorate the 1969 coup that brought Muammar Gaddafi to power, often parading with portraits of the former leader and Libya’s pre-2011 green flag.
Ahead of Friday’s burial, mourners again carried Gaddafi’s portraits and green flags, chanting pro-Gaddafi slogans and vowing that “the blood of the martyrs will not be shed in vain”.
Marcel Ceccaldi, a French lawyer who represented Saif al-Islam, said a four-man commando carried out the killing. Authorities said investigations were under way, but the attackers remained at large.
Saadi Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam’s younger brother, said he was buried alongside his brother Khamis Gaddafi, who was killed during the 2011 conflict.
Under his father’s four-decade rule, Saif al-Islam was widely regarded as a powerful figure and was often described as the regime’s de facto prime minister, despite holding no official post. He initially cultivated an image as a reform-minded moderniser.
That image collapsed during the 2011 uprising, when he warned that Libya would be plunged into “rivers of blood” if the revolt succeeded.
Saif al-Islam was later arrested on an International Criminal Court warrant for alleged crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by a court in Tripoli, though he was subsequently granted amnesty.
In 2021, he announced his intention to run for president, but elections were indefinitely postponed amid continued political deadlock.
