Farkash met Gaddafi when he was hospitalized and treated for
appendicitis in 1970. She became his second wife when they married in Tripoli the same year. Farkash has seven biological children with Gaddafi and two adopted children: •
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi (25 June 1972 – 3 February 2026), her eldest son, was an architect who was long-rumored to be Gaddafi's successor. He has been a spokesman to the Western world, and he has negotiated treaties with Italy and the United States. He was viewed as politically moderate, and in 2006, after criticizing his father's government, he briefly left Libya. In 2007, Gaddafi exchanged angry letters with his son regarding his son's statements that
Bulgarian nurses had been tortured. They later reconciled. On 3 February 2026, Saif al-Islam was shot and killed by four gunmen at his private garden in
Zintan, who then fled the scene. •
Al-Saadi Gaddafi (born 25 May 1973), is a retired professional
football player and former commander of
Libya’s Special Forces. He attempted relocations to numerous countries following the
Libyan Civil War but in 2014 he was extradited from Niger to Libya where he was charged with murder. Since his release in 2021, he is believed to live in Turkey. •
Mutassim Gaddafi (18 December 1974 – 20 October 2011), Gaddafi's fourth son, was a Lieutenant-colonel in the
Libyan Army. He later served as Libya's National Security Advisor. He was seen as a possible successor to his father, after Saif al-Islam. Mutassim was killed along with his father after the
battle of Sirte. •
Hannibal Muammar Gaddafi (born 20 September 1976), was an employee of the General National Maritime Transport Company, a company that specialized in oil exports. He is most known for his violent incidents in Europe, attacking police officers in Italy (2001), drunk driving (2004), and for assaulting his girlfriend in Paris (2005). In 2008, he was charged with assaulting two staff in
Switzerland, and was imprisoned by Swiss police. The arrest created a
strong standoff between Libya and Switzerland. •
Aisha Gaddafi (born 25 December 1977), Farkash's only biological daughter, is a lawyer who joined the defense teams of executed former Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein and Iraqi journalist
Muntadhar al-Zaidi. Two of her children were killed by
NATO airstrikes (one with her brother
Saif al-Arab Gaddafi on 30 April 2011 and the other with her husband
Ahmed al-Gaddafi al-Qahsi on 26 July 2011). She gave birth to her fourth child in Algeria on 30 August 2011, after the death of her husband and two children. •
Saif al-Arab Gaddafi (1982 – 30 April 2011) was appointed a military commander in the
Libyan Army during the
Libyan Civil War. Saif al-Arab and three of Farkash's grandchildren were reported killed by a NATO bombing in April 2011. Like the death of Hana, this is disputed by the organizations alleged to be responsible. •
Khamis Gaddafi (27 May 1983 – 29 August 2011), her sixth son, who was serving as the commander of the Libyan Army's elite
Khamis Brigade. On 30 August 2011, a spokesman for the
National Transitional Council said it was "almost certain" Khamis had been killed in
Tarhuna during clashes with units of the
National Liberation Army. She and Gaddafi are rumored to have adopted two children, Hana and Milad. •
Hana Muammar Gaddafi (claimed by Gaddafi to be his adopted daughter, but most facts surrounding this claim are disputed) was apparently killed at the age of four, during the retaliatory US
bombing raids in 1986. She may not have died; the adoption may have been posthumous; or he may have adopted a second daughter and given her the same name after the first one died. Following the taking by rebels of the family residence in the
Bab al-Azizia compound in Tripoli,
The New York Times both reported evidence (complete with photographs) of Hana's life after her declared death, when she became a doctor and worked in a Tripoli hospital. Her passport was reported as showing a birth date of 11 November 1985, making her six months old at the time of the US raid. However, a Libyan official told the
Daily Telegraph that Gaddafi adopted a second daughter and named her Hana in honor of the first one who was killed. The family's main residence was in the
Bab al-Azizia military
barracks, located in the southern suburbs of Tripoli. ==Business and other interests==