Muammar Gaddafi's Children

By Sammy S. on April 19, 2011

Muammar Gaddafi’s only daughter, Aisha, found herself the subject of many international headlines this week after she rallied a crowd early Friday from a balcony at her father’s compound.

For 35-year-old Aisha, who’s been branded North Africa’s “Claudia Schiffer” due to her glamorous image, it was the most overtly political gesture to date. (Previously, she has grabbed headlines over an alleged affair with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi).

She’s not the only known member of the Gaddafi family carrying her father’s legacy. As Time reports, brother Saif, 40, is known as a shrewd operator and canny businessman, while 39-year-old Saadi enjoyed a brief Italian soccer career. Little is known about Khamis, said to have died in a kamikaze attack, or Milad, a nephew whom Gaddafi adopted.

But clearly they’re all currently faring better than Hosni Mubarak’s sons, currently detained and awaiting interrogation.

View known details of Gaddafi and Mubarak’s children here:

Al-Saadi Gaddafi

Al-Saadi opted for forgo politics in favor of his true passion — soccer — and in 2003, even briefly joined Perugia, a team that was then in the top tier of Italy’s soccer league.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi

Saif’s loyalty to his father’s embattled dictatorship now seems hard to question, but prior to the uprising, the shrewd businessman — who speaks fluent English — had long cultivated himself as a figure of reform.

Mutassim Gaddafi

National Security Adviser Mutassim Gaddafi is believed to have actively tried to cultivate relations with Washington. Still, Mutassim seems even more embedded in Libya’s state-security firmament than Saif, and commands their father’s elite presidential guard.

Aisha Gaddafi

Nicknamed North Africa’s “Claudia Schiffer” due to her glamorous image, Aisha is a former Goodwill ambassador and frequent tabloid target and was once rumored to have had an affair with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. She has since slammed NATO airstrikes, and rallied a crowd early Friday from a balcony at her father’s compound that was hit by U.S. warplanes 25 years ago.

Hannibal Gaddafi

Known for his penchant for brawling in high-end nightclubs, Hannibal is arguably the “bad boy” of the group. He and his wife, Aline Skaf, were arrested in Switzerland allegedly beating their attendants in a fancy hotel suite in Geneva. The incident prompted a diplomatic crisis, with Libya cutting off oil supplies to Switzerland and boycotting Swiss goods.

Mohammed Gaddafi

Mohammed, the only child from Gaddafi’s first marriage, is a computer scientist who has headed the country’s Olympic committee and the state-run General Post and Telecommunications Company.

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