Saif al-Arab al-Gaddafi

Saif al-Arab al-Gaddafi سيف العرب القذافي
Born	1982, Tripoli, Libya
Died	30 April 2011, Tripoli, Libya
Known for	Son of Muammar Gaddafi

Saif al-Arab al-Gaddafi (Arabic: سيف العرب القذافي‎, lit. Sword of the Arabs; of the Gaddafa; 1982 – 30 April 2011) was the sixth son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.^[1] On 30 April 2011, the Libyan government reported that Saif and three of his young nieces and nephews were killed by a NATO airstrike on his house during the Libyan civil war.^[2][3] During the beginning of the uprising, Saif was put in charge of a military division by his father in order to put down protesters in Benghazi.^[4] Saif was viewed as the most low-profile of Gaddafi's children.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Life in Munich 3 Actions during the Libyan civil war 4 Reported death 5 Funeral 6 References

[edit] Early life

Saif al-Arab al-Gaddafi was born in 1982 in the Libyan capital Tripoli. His father was Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi,^[5] and his mother was Safia Farkash, Gaddafi's second wife.^[6] Saif was wounded in the U.S. bombing attack of 1986, when he was four years old.^[7]

[edit] Life in Munich

In 2006 Saif al-Arab enrolled as a student at the Technical University of Munich in Germany.^[8] Later that year while living as a student in Munich Saif al-Arab became involved in a fight with a nightclub bouncer, after his girlfriend was thrown out of a Munich nightclub.^[9] In 2008, Saif al-Arab was still studying in Munich. Excessive noise from the exhaust of his Ferrari F430 led to questions from the German police^[1] and his car being impounded.^[10] Also that year Saif al-Arab was suspected of attempting to smuggle an assault rifle, a revolver and munitions from Munich to Paris in a car with diplomatic number plates. However, the case was later dropped as the alleged weapons were never found and the German public prosecutor decided that there was insufficient evidence to proceed with a prosecution.^[8] In addition to his studies, Al Jazeera reported Saif al-Arab engaged in unspecified business activities and spent much of his time partying while in Munich.^[11]

[edit] Actions during the Libyan civil war

On 26 February 2011, the United Nations Security Council issued Resolution 1970 which imposed a travel ban on Saif al-Arab but stopped short of imposing an asset freeze as it did with many other members of the Gaddafi family.^[5] An Interpol notice (orange notice) was then issued against him.^[12]

During the Libyan civil war, Saif al-Arab was sent by his father to the eastern part of Libya to put down the protests. Combat troops and military equipment were placed at his disposal. It was rumoured that he later defected to the rebel side along with the troops under his command, though this was not confirmed.^[4][13][14]

[edit] Reported death

This section documents a current event. Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.

On 30 April 2011, a Libyan government spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim, announced an air strike on Saif al-Arab's house had killed Saif al-Arab, along with three of Muamar Gaddafi's grandchildren. Moussa Ibrahim refuses to release the names of the grandchildren killed for "privacy reasons". The government also claimed Muammar Gaddafi was present in the house during the attack, but "escaped".^[3] Saif has been viewed as the most low-profile of Muammar's sons.^[15] The next day Libyan state TV showed footage of two bodies in a hospital fully covered and veiled, and thus unidentifiable, but claimed that one of them was Saif al-Arab Gaddafi's corpse.^[16]

NATO said it struck a command and control center, not a residential structure and that it was not targeting individuals.^[16] The British foreign ministry says it is unable to verify if Saif al-Arab or his relatives were killed.^[17]

Members of the opposition centered in Benghazi have speculated that the Libyan government's claim of Saif al-Arab's death was a tactic to gain sympathy.^[16] Abdul Hafez Goga, spokesperson for the Transitional National Council, said he thinks it could all be fabrication: "Back in 1986, Gaddafi once claimed that Ronald Reagan, then US president, had launched a strike on his compound in Tripoli and killed his daughter. Many journalists since then investigated and found out that the actual child that had died had nothing to do with Gaddafi, that he sort of adopted her posthumously."^[3]

NATO claimed that it has no evidence of Saif's death and could neither confirm nor deny Libyan claims. They further said what the Libyan government has called a "residence" actually held an underground bunker which is used as a command and control center and that was the target.^[18]

French surgeon Gerrard Le Clouerec, who does not work for the Libyan government, was asked to independently identify the bodies of Saif al-Arab, and two children. Clouerec was able to confirm their deaths, as the corpse he saw in person was a direct match with that from pictures of Saif-al Arab. He also personally saw the corpses of the children, and the blast injured their bodies enough to be unidentifiable.^[19] The highest-ranking Roman Catholic official in Tripoli, Apostolic Vicar Giovanni Innocenzo Martinelli, also confirmed the death of Saif al-Arab; his body was shown to the leaders of churches in Libya.^[20]

[edit] Funeral

External images
	Reuters - Libyan attend the funeral of Saif Al-Arab Gaddafi

About 2,000 of Col. Moammar Gadhafi's supporters turned out for the funeral of the Libyan leader's youngest son in Tripoli Monday as the regime intensified its attack on the besieged city of Misrata.

Gadhafi himself did not attend the funeral of Saif al-Arab, his second youngest son, who was killed in an allied air strike on Saturday night. Two of his other sons, Saif al-Islam, who was seen as his father's intended successor, and Hannibal were both seen in the crowd.

The body, covered in a cloth of pro-Gadhafi green, was brought to the Al-Hani Cemetery in a black ambulance.

Three of Gadhafi's grandchildren, identified by the authorities as being a child each of Hannibal, Mohammed and their sister Aisha, were also buried.^[15]

[edit] References

v · d · eMuammar Gaddafi Libya portal Politics Political philosophy · The Green Book · Jamahiriya · Rule over Libya · Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Family and relatives Muhammad al-Gaddafi (1st son) · Saif al-Islam Gaddafi (2nd son) · Al-Saadi al-Gaddafi (3rd son) · Hannibal Muammar al-Gaddafi (4th son)  · Al-Mu'tasim-Billah al-Gaddafi (5th son) · Saif al-Arab al-Gaddafi (6th son) · Khamis al-Gaddafi (7th son) · Ayesha al-Gaddafi (daughter)

Persondata
Name	Al-Gaddafi, Saif Al-Arab
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1982
Place of birth	Tripoli, Libya
Date of death	2011-04-30
Place of death