Gaddafi’s son sentenced to death over Libyan uprising killings

A court in the Libyan capital has sentenced a son of Muammar Gaddafi to death in absentia over killings during the country’s 2011 uprising.

The Tripoli court handed down the sentence today for Saif al-Islam, who is currently being held by a militia that refuses to hand him over to the central government.

The court also sentenced eight others to death, including former Libyan spy chief Abdullah al-Senoussi.

Libya has slid into chaos since the 2011 overthrow and killing of Gaddafi.

It is now bitterly divided between an elected parliament and government cornered in the country’s east, with little power on the ground, and an Islamist militia-backed government in the west that has seized Tripoli.

Since the end of Libya’s 2011 civil war, Saif al-Islam has been held by a militia in Zintan, which is allied with the Tobruk-based internationally-recognised government against the Tripoli one.

Saif al-Islam is also wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague on charges of crimes against humanity.