Libya celebrates killing of Gaddafi amid inquiry calls
But Amnesty International has urged a full and independent inquiry into the circumstances of his death.
Interim government officials said one of Gaddafi’s sons, his former national security adviser Muatassim, was also killed in Sirte and another, one-time heir apparent Seif al-Islam, was wounded and captured. He is now in hospital.
Revolutionary figures overwhelmed Gaddafi’s hometown of Sirte yesterday and captured the last major bastion of resistance two months after his regime fell.
Gaddafi, 69, who was Libya’s dictator for 42 years, was the first leader to be killed in the Arab Spring wave of popular uprisings that have swept the Middle East, demanding the end of autocratic rulers and the establishment of greater democracy.
Gaddafi called the rebels who rose up against his 42-years of one-man rule “rats,” but in the end it was he who was captured cowering in a drainage pipe full of rubbish and filth.
“He called us rats, but look where we found him,” said Ahmed Al Sahati, a 27-year-old government fighter, standing next to two stinking drainage pipes under a six-lane highway near Sirte.
The National Transitional Council said he was shot in the head after being caught in the crossfire of a battle between revolutionary forces and loyalists.
According to various reports from rebels, Gaddafi’s last words before he was shot were: “Shenn tebbo, shenn tebbo” or “What do u want, what do u want?”
A spokesman for the NTC in Benghazi, Jalal al-Galal, said a doctor who examined the fallen strongman in Misrata found he had been shot in the head and abdomen.
“We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Muammar Gaddafi has been killed,” Libyan PM Mahmoud Jibril told a news conference in the capital Tripoli.
“I would like to take this opportunity to call on Libyans to put aside their grudges and proclaim one word: Libya! Libya! Libya!” he added.
There was a carnival atmosphere in nearby Martyrs’ Square, where thousands gathered to mark the beginning of a new era, embracing each other, beating drums and chanting in celebration.
“Today is the first day of freedom in our lives. Praise to God. We are so happy. I don’t know how to tell you. We suffered too much because of this stupid family,” Zainab Ibrahim told AFP, even as more people flooded into the square.
“I am 50 years old, so I have known Gaddafi since I was small. He gave us nothing. No schools. No healthcare. He stole all our money and our oil. We hope, God willing, that he will go to hell,” she added, brimming with emotion.
Ali al-Fortass, a fighter from Misrata, returned two days ago from the frontline in Sirte, where he said several of his friends had been badly injured.
“Today is a day of great happiness for all the Arab and Muslim countries. Gaddafi was a dictator and an evil man, who destroyed this country,” said the bearded 39-year-old, as he distributed chocolates in Martyrs’ Square.
Footage aired on Arab TV networks showed Gaddafi was captured wounded but alive in Sirte. In a blood-soaked shirt and his face bloodied, he was shoved along by a crowd of fighters on a Sirte roadside, chanting “God is great”.
Gaddafi appeared to struggle against them, stumbling and shouting as the fighters pushed him on to the bonnet of a truck.
“We want him alive. We want him alive,” one man shouted before Gaddafi was dragged away, some fighters pulling his hair, towards an ambulance.
Later footage showed fighters rolling Gaddafi’s lifeless body over stripped to the waist.
Amnesty urged the NTC to give the Libyan people the full facts concerning the dictator’s death.
“The legacy of repression and abuse from Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s rule will not end until there is a full accounting for the past and human rights are embedded in Libya’s new institutions,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy director for North Africa and the Middle East at Amnesty International.
“Colonel Gaddafi’s death must not stop his victims in Libya from seeing justice being done. The many Libyan officials suspected of serious human rights violations committed during and before this year’s uprising, including the infamous Abu Salim prison massacre in 1996, must answer for their crimes.”
“The new authorities must make a complete break from the culture of abuse that Colonel Gaddafi’s regime perpetuated and initiate the human rights reforms that are urgently needed in the country.”
Out of initial confusion, a clearer picture began to emerge of Gaddafi’s last hours, though there were still contradictions.
Most accounts agreed Gaddafi had been holed up with heavily armed supporters in the last few buildings held by regime loyalists in Sirte.
At one point, a convoy tried to flee and was hit by Nato air strikes, carried out by French fighter jets. France’s defence minister Gerard Longuet said the 80-vehicle convoy was carrying Gaddafi and was trying to escape the city.
-THE road ahead for Libya and its people will be difficult and full of challenges.
Now’s the time for all Libyans to come together.
- Today is a day to remember all of Colonel Gaddafi’s victims.
From those who died in connection with the Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, to Yvonne Fletcher in a London street, and all the victims of IRA terrorism who died through their use of Libyan Semtex.
- We hope that there will be peace in Libya, and that all those who are governing the state, different representatives of Libyan tribes, will reach a final agreement on the configuration of power and Libya will be a modern democratic state.
- The death of Muammar Gaddafi marks the end of an era of despotism and repression from which the Libyan people have suffered for too long. Today Libya can turn a page in its history and embrace a new democratic future.
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