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Will Gadhafi's son be Libya's next leader?

After his release, analysts are debating whether Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, the son of late leader Moammar Gadhafi, will be playing a role in Libya’s political scene from the inside or from abroad.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, attends a hearing behind bars in a courtroom in Zintan May 25, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer (LIBYA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST CRIME LAW) - RTR3QSD2
Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, son of late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, attends a hearing behind bars in a courtroom in Zintan, May 25, 2014. — REUTERS

Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, the son of late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, has been released from jail in Zintan, a town in western Libya, after spending nearly five years there since his capture in November 2011. After his father was killed on Oct. 20, 2011, by rebel groups that captured his hometown Sirte with NATO help, Seif tried to leave Libya.

In August 2015, the young Gadhafi was sentenced to death by firing squad by a Tripoli-based court. However, the sentence was not carried out and was condemned by Human Rights Watch that accused the self-proclaimed government of politicizing the courts.

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