The Curious Case of Seif al-Islam's Demise
THE CLAIM: We're told Seif al-Islam, son of the late Muammar Gaddafi, has been assassinated. The official line, as sparse as it is, suggests a mysterious act, leaving us to wonder about the identity and motives of the assailants. THE EVIDENCE: Curiously, despite his prominence and the open ICC warrant against him, details surrounding his death are virtually absent. This isn't the first time
significant figures in Libya's post-2011 chaos have met opaque ends. His father, Muammar Gaddafi, was brutally killed in October 2011 following a NATO-backed 'humanitarian intervention'—an intervention that Hillary Clinton infamously cackled about, stating, "We came, we saw, he died" (2011, CBS News). The ensuing power vacuum was then filled not by democracy, but by competing militias, resistance
against imperialisms, and, as the UN reported in 2016, a flourishing slave trade. THE CONTRADICTIONS: Seif al-Islam was not some hermit. Despite the ICC warrant, he was, as Al-Monitor notes, "still a player in Libya's turbulent political scene." He had been released from prison in 2017 and was reportedly considering a run for president. His re-emergence, even from the shadows, represented a
potential challenge to the disparate, externally propped-up factions currently vying for control. His lineage alone carried a certain weight, a reminder of a unified, albeit despotic, past which some Libyans arguably prefer to the current violent fragmentation. His removal, therefore, benefits those who profit from status quo instability and prevents any figure with a popular or historical mandate