Attempts to erase Gaddafi’s legacy clash with mourners at Saif al‑Islam funeral
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Saif al‑Islam Gaddafi, son of Libya’s late leader Muammar Gaddafi, was assassinated on Tuesday.
What was meant to be a quiet interment quickly became a moment of defiance and memory.
Saif al‑Islam Gaddafi, son of Libya’s late leader Muammar Gaddafi, was assassinated on Tuesday, February 3, 2026, at his home in Zintan by four masked gunmen.
In the days that followed, forces loyal to military commander Khalifa Haftar tried to bar the burial in his father’s birthplace of Sirte, imposing restrictions on public mourning and prohibiting displays of the Gaddafi name and symbols.
The family instead chose Bani Walid, a city long loyal to the Gaddafi era, for the funeral on Friday.
The ceremony drew thousands of mourners, who carried portraits of father and son and waved the plain green flag of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi.
Tribal elders, former loyalists, and ordinary citizens joined the procession, chanting and praying as a vivid reminder of a chapter of Libya’s history that continues to resonate.
Libya remains divided between rival governments in Tripoli and the east, and the funeral highlighted how the Gaddafi name still carries symbolic power.
For many attendees, the funeral was more than a burial—it was a stand of memory, an affirmation that, despite restrictions and political attempts to erase it, the legacy of the Gaddafi era remains alive in the hearts of Libyans.
