Saif al-Islam was assassinated because he believed in a unified and sovereign country, Moussa Ibrahim has said
The assassination of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, was ordered by foreign powers, the country’s former information minister, Moussa Ibrahim, has said.
Saif al-Islam was killed by gunmen at his residence in the city of Zintan in northwestern Libya last week. The 53-year-old politician had intended to run for president of the North African state, which remains divided between rival governments and has been plagued by intermittent civil war since his father was murdered in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011.
In an interview with RT on Tuesday, Ibrahim said that “there is no doubt that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was not just killed by some Libyan traitors, but this was a hit order by foreign powers.”
Those who carried out the attack could have been not only Libyans, but troops from abroad, he speculated.
The former minister declined to name the exact countries that orchestrated Gaddafi’s son’s killing, but hinted that they could be from the West.
“They know that if they actually have elections… Saif will win. So, they needed to get rid of him first, so then they can get the Libyan agents of foreign powers to come together and form some sort of a government that looks legitimate, looks democratic, but it’s a government that only executes the orders, and the wishes, and the whims of Western powers,” he said.
According to Ibrahim, all of the factions vying for control in Libya “belong to a foreign power or another,” while Gaddafi’s son was “the only one, who remained independent, who believed in the unity and sovereignty of the country.”
UK journalist Afshin Rattansi told RT on Sunday that, according to his sources, the British and French intelligence services were involved in the killing of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi.
READ MORE: Gaddafi’s son assassinated
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said last week that Moscow “strongly condemns” the assassination of the younger Gaddafi and expects it to be thoroughly investigated, with those responsible brought to justice.
