Arab Dictators' Children: The Mixed Fortunes Of Gaddafi And Mubarak's Kids

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:

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Al-Saadi Gaddafi

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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.

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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.

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Comments

[DrakeUnlimited]

06:29 AM on 04/26/2011

"Would you rather have
a lexus, some justice,
a dream or some substance?
A beamer, a necklace or freedom?"

[philly282]

01:38 PM on 04/18/2011

Hannibal = Howie from BSB

[Mansa]

03:25 AM on 04/18/2011

Saif Gaddafi has already gone back to Britain--disguised as Lewis Hamilton, the F1 driver. Check out the photos. Didn't know that Saif was into fast cars!

[wom122]

11:22 PM on 04/17/2011

Gaddafi's sons are quite numerous but if we are to discuss the families of Arab dictators, I would suggest our Saudi proteges. The last I looked there were literally thousands of Saudi princes directly descended from King Abdul Aziz (not counting the females for in Saudi Arabia they do not count).

[inARCTICulate]

10:30 PM on 04/17/2011

Old Libyan saying 'A day without beating your attendants is like a day without flafel'

[brooklyncitizen]

09:54 PM on 04/17/2011

Where are the Bush twins?

[teron678]

05:36 PM on 04/19/2011

LOL

[Ergon]

06:04 PM on 04/17/2011

How about profiling the Saudi usurper's kid who owns a major portion of Fox News?

[AKL1985]

05:26 PM on 04/17/2011

I wonder why Gadaffi gave all his children classic Arab names, except for one, and that one is Hannibal?

[Wupta]

05:50 PM on 04/17/2011

Hannibal is originally from Carthage, which is north Africa, This I believe lies now in Libya or so about.

[wom122]

11:11 PM on 04/17/2011

Actually he ruins of Carthage are located in Tunisia.

[Babele]

06:58 PM on 04/17/2011

It's in tribute to Hannibal Lecter, and apparently he's doing a great job keeping up with the reputation.

[Dec2086Lover]

06:16 PM on 04/19/2011

Great comment!

[Cougar31]

05:26 PM on 04/17/2011

He looks like the LA Night Stalker

[xMoonWalkerx]

02:41 PM on 04/17/2011

"As Time reports, brother Saif, 40, is known as a shrewd operator and canny businessman"

How canny and smart do you have to be to succeed when you hold all the cards courtesy of your rich and powerful dad?

[Jkerouac]

01:41 PM on 04/17/2011

The British parliament­ary and the American constituti­onal systems didn't work so well for the thousands of children living in Iraq and countless other countries, bombed into the stone age.

[Dec2086Lover]

06:18 PM on 04/19/2011

The only difference is Libyans rose up against Gaddafi,while Saddam was ousted by U.S and allies without any uprising by Iraqi people.Iraq is under occupation,does not mean Libya would be the same.

[Mansa]

05:52 AM on 04/17/2011

The thing about so-called democracy is that the dictators are temporary. So in the West how about the kids of murderous dictators like Bush I and II, Blair, Clinton, Obama, Sarkozy, etc? After all, those guys just went off bombing people unknown to them without any approval--as if that matters when you are bent on murdering people.

Whatever dictator's league Gaddafi might be in, all the guys mentioned above are in a much higher league.

[NevaforLeadership]

08:38 AM on 04/17/2011

This remark needs to be removed, and you need to learn about how the British parliamentary and the American constitutional systems work.

[Ergon]

06:02 PM on 04/17/2011

"the British parliament­ary and the American constituti­onal systems work" on censorship?

[fluffylucy]

05:36 AM on 04/18/2011

A response born of ignorance. Whether you like Bush, Blair etc is irrelevant. Their wealth and power were not taken from their people by force, what they did, they did within the bounds of their countries' laws which were beyond them to control and their children do not automatically inherit their power and position. Contrast this with Assad or Gadaffi or ibn -Saud who steal their people's money, make laws to suit themselves and pass on all the power and money to relatives via a corrupt system of patronage and nepotism. Claiming some sort of moral equivalence between even a bad democratic leader and the best of despotic dictators, shows a complete lack of understanding.

[plaidsportcoat]

01:34 AM on 04/17/2011

Saif, not Said

[plaidsportcoat]

01:34 AM on 04/17/2011

GImme a break. You feature Said Al Islami's photo on the headline page because you think that ladies find him attractive/ How superficial can you get huffy? The guy is a Super Creep.

[Dec2086Lover]

06:20 PM on 04/19/2011

A super creep and a monster,and he demonstrated to his own people since Feb,why people thought he was a reformer is beyond me.

[nelson rivera]

08:46 PM on 04/19/2011

Your Right he is a Clone of his Daddy.

[Susan Shaffer]

12:08 AM on 04/17/2011

all from the same mother?
i know another one died in a bomb attack on ghadaffi 30 years ago