Thousands of people took part in the funeral procession of Saif Islam Gaddafi, the son of former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, in the Libyan city of Bani Walid on Friday.. TASR informs about it according to the reports of the agencies DPA and AFP. Although the Gaddafi family comes from the city of Sirte and previously lived in Tripoli, Saif Islam was buried in the cemetery in Bani Walid, where there is also another dead son of the former dictator.
Mourners from different places gathered at Bani Walid Airport to pray together. The commemoration was accompanied by strict security measures introduced by the Ministry of the Interior. During the funeral, some people shouted slogans and waved flags associated with the former Gaddafi regime. They also asked for the coffin to be opened to verify the identity of the body, citing that no photographs had been released.
However, the security forces did not agree to this request. Saif Islam Gaddafi was killed on Tuesday after four gunmen broke into his house in the town of Zintan. It was allegedly an armed clash with the 44th Brigade – an influential paramilitary unit operating in Tripoli. The Libyan prosecutor’s office began investigating Gaddafi’s death on Wednesday. She has not published further information yet.
In June 2011, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Saif Islam Gaddafi on charges of crimes against humanity, including the killing and persecution of civilians during the suppression of anti-government protests in Libya. The court in Tripoli sentenced him to death in 2015. After being detained by militias in 2011, he was released under an amnesty in 2017.
In 2021, he appeared in public after a long time and registered as a candidate in the planned presidential elections in Libya. However, these did not take place due to disputes over the constitutional framework and eligibility of the candidates. Libya remains de facto divided between rival governments in the east and west of the country, DPA reminds.
