@luckyles Sir Les

I agree with the notion that it would have been better to see Gaddafi on trial. However, let’s not pretend that the Libyans are the first people to wreak vengeance on those they hate. Benito Mussolini was shot by Italian anti-fascist fighters and then strung up, upside-down, in the central plaza of Milan whilst the locals threw stones at his body. Nicolae Ceausescu, the Romanian dictator overthrown in 1989, was captured, immediately tried in a military court (the trial lasted 2 hours) and then executed by firing squad. And of course, how can we forget the killing of Osama Bin Laden earlier this year by the US Army.

The problem that people have in the West is that they are sheltered. Sheltered from the real horridness of daily life, and death, in our world. When you do not see the result of a drone attack, the blood, the guts, the gore, it is a lot easier to back it as a useful tool in the anti-terror crusade.

It is time to ask the people who have suddenly taken an interest in the ins and outs of international law concerning the execution of murderous dictators, or Gaddafi’s social welfare system, where were you through the 42 year reign of terror? Where were you when Gaddafi ordered the deaths of 1000+ political prisoners at Abu Salim? Where were you when Libyan students were hanged live on state television for the mere crime of speaking out? Where were you when Libyan dissidents were murdered abroad, chased to their deaths by Gaddafi’s agents? And for those who seem to think of Gaddafi as a Black nationalist, where were you when he invaded Chad, sparking off yet another war?

via Gaddafi and Libya through Western eyes

Gaddafi Crimes since 1969

1973: Gaddafi  regime arrests Muhammad al-Sadiq al-Tarhouni; suspected of belonging to political party. Believed to be at Abu Salim, he is feared dead.

1976: Gaddafi regime murders Amer Deghayes in police custody.  Although his family is told he committed suicide by hanging, the regime denies them permission to view the autopsy report.

1980: Gaddafi regime assassinates businessman Abdul Jalil al-’Arif in Rome, Italy.

1980: Gaddafi regime arrests engineer Mahmoud Banou. He is tortured to death in custody.

1986: Gaddafi regime kidnaps and subsequently disappears Yusuf Hassan al-Huwayl on a visit home to Libya from the UK, where he was a resident.

1994: Gaddafi regime abducts Silvan Becker (German anti-terrorism expert) and his wife from streets of Cairo, Egypt. He will die in Tripoli.

2004: Regime admits that massacre at Abu Salim prison in Tripoli occured and concedes that families have right to know. However, no official account exists to date.

2011: Gaddafi regime murders Zaynab Al Jareeree in Benghazi. She was gunned down for taking photographs.

Extracts taken from the twenty page document Gaddafi Crimes since 1969

“This is my will. I, Muammar bin Mohammad bin Abdussalam bi Humayd bin Abu Manyar bin Humayd bin Nayil al Fuhsi Gaddafi, do swear that there is no other God but Allah and that Mohammad is God’s Prophet, peace be upon him. I pledge that I will die as Muslim.

Should I be killed, I would like to be buried, according to Muslim rituals, in the clothes I was wearing at the time of my death and my body unwashed, in the cemetery of Sirte, next to my family and relatives.

I would like that my family, especially women and children, be treated well after my death. The Libyan people should protect its identity, achievements, history and the honourable image of its ancestors and heroes. The Libyan people should not relinquish the sacrifices of the free and best people.

I call on my supporters to continue the resistance, and fight any foreign aggressor against Libya, today, tomorrow and always.

Let the free people of the world know that we could have bargained over and sold out our cause in return for a personal secure and stable life. We received many offers to this effect but we chose to be at the vanguard of the confrontation as a badge of duty and honour.

Even if we do not win immediately, we will give a lesson to future generations that choosing to protect the nation is an honour and selling it out is the greatest betrayal that history will remember forever despite the attempts of the others to tell you otherwise.“

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Is this Gaddafi?

Reuters news agency reported that Col. Gadhafi was wounded in both legs and later died of his wounds. These reports have not been confirmed by Gadhafi troops.

The U.S. state department says it cannot confirm media reports of Col. Gadhafi’s alleged capture.

“We’ve seen the media reports but can’t confirm them,” State Department spokeswoman Beth Gosselin told Reuters.

via Former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi dead, reports say « Shabab Libya.

Is this the man who ended the hunt?

Rebel forces trying to punch into a final pocket of Gaddafi loyalists holding out in Sirte have built a huge armoured battering ram which they hope will break the deadlock.

The contraption is built around a bulldozer covered in sheets of steel and concrete armour.

via Libya: rebels build huge armoured battering ram « Shabab Libya.

Captured Gaddafi soldiers, suspected loyalists and alleged mercenaries being tortured into ‘confessing’ to pro-Gaddafi crimes.

The new authorities in Libya must stamp out arbitrary detention and widespread abuse of detainees, Amnesty International said today 12 October, as it published a new report revealing a pattern of beatings and ill-treatment of captured Gaddafi soldiers, suspected loyalists and alleged mercenaries in western Libya.

Since late August, armed militia have arrested and detained as many as 2,500 people in Tripoli and al-Zawiya. During late August and September, Amnesty researchers visited 11 detention facilities in and around Tripoli and in al-Zawiyah, and interviewed approximately 300 prisoners.

None of those seen by Amnesty had been shown any kind of arrest warrant and many were effectively abducted from their homes by unidentified captors carrying out raids on suspected Gaddafi fighters or loyalists. Detainees were almost always held without legal orders and mostly without the involvement of Libya’s General Prosecution authority. They were held by local councils, local military council or armed brigades – far from the oversight of the Ministry of Justice.

via AIUK : Libya: New report reveals torture of detainees under NTC.