Libyan Prosecutor General confirms death of Muammar Gaddafi's son

TRIPOLI, Feb. 4 (Xinhua) -- Libya's Prosecutor General's Office confirmed early Wednesday the death of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, after he was fatally wounded by gunfire on Tuesday.

In a statement posted on its official Facebook page on Wednesday, the office said that after receiving reports of the death of Saif al-Islam Muammar Gaddafi, investigators, authorized by the Prosecutor General, moved to the relevant locations to gather evidence and question witnesses as part of a preliminary investigation.

The statement added that on Tuesday, an investigative team, accompanied by forensic experts in firearms, fingerprints, toxicology and other relevant fields, conducted an on-site investigation. Preliminary findings confirmed that the victim had sustained fatal gunshot wounds.

Late Tuesday, the political team of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi said that he was assassinated earlier in the day by four armed men who stormed his residence in the town of Zintan, some 136 km southwest of Tripoli.

After the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that ended his father's rule, a Tripoli court sentenced Saif al-Islam Gaddafi to death in absentia in 2015. In 2017, he was released by a militia that controlled Zintan, as part of an amnesty issued by Libya's eastern authorities.

In November 2021, he made his first public appearance in years, filing for candidacy in the Libyan presidential election, but was later rejected by the Libyan High National Elections Commission. Enditem