<
http://world.time.com/category/africa/libya/> Libya-How Did Gaddafi Die? A
Year Later, Unanswered Questions and Bad Blood
A year after Libya's long-ruling despot Muammar Gaddafi was cornered and
killed by rebel forces, questions remain over the nature of his death and
its legacy for the fractious, fledgling Libyan state
By <
http://world.time.com/contributor/vivienne-walt-tunis/> Vivienne Walt |
<
http://www.twitter.com/vivwalt> _at_vivwalt | October 18, 2012 |
<
http://world.time.com/2012/10/18/how-did-gaddafi-die-a-year-later-unanswere
d-questions-and-bad-blood/#disqus_thread> 5
It's been a year since the world was transfixed by the extraordinary video
of <
http://topics.time.com/muammar-gaddafi/> Muammar Gaddafi, sitting
bloodied and cowering in his hometown of Sirt, as he faced his imminent
death, while Libyan rebels pummeled him with rifle butts and boots. Within
minutes his 42-year dictatorship, and the seven-month civil war, was over.
But what exactly happened that day-Oct. 20, 2011?
One year on, there are still troubling questions about how Gaddafi died, as
well as how dozens of his loyalists were apparently executed in captivity
that day-a war crime, if proved, committed by
<
http://topics.time.com/libya/> Libya's rebels. Beyond simply how the
history of the Libyan Revolution is written, the disputed details over what
happened that day still fuels the explosive violence, one year on, seen
between the vengeful remnants of Gaddafi's loyalists and the patchwork of
militias who won the war.
First, the official version: The night Gaddafi was killed, then-Prime
Minister Mahmoud Jibril told me in Tripoli that his death had been an
accident, and that rebels had fully intended bringing him back alive. "There
was cross-fire and he was shot while they were carrying him to a truck,"
Jibril told me in
<
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2097465,00.html> an
interview. "He did not resist, although he had a small pistol."
(MORE: <
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2097465,00.html> How
Gaddafi died-the interim Prime Minister's version.)
One year on, that version seems incorrect-constructed, perhaps, because the
turmoil at the time muddied the truth, or perhaps because the truth would
run counter to international law and Western sensitivities.
Drawing on extensive interviews with both rebels and Gaddafi supporters,
Human Rights Watch said in a
<
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2012/10/16/death-dictator-0> report published on
Wednesday that Gaddafi was in fact killed after his capture-a war crime
under international treaties, which outlaw the killing of enemy prisoners.
Human Rights Watch says in its report that Gaddafi had already been wounded
when he was captured (clear on the video), from a grenade thrown by one of
his own bodyguards that exploded in his midst, killing his defense minister
Abu Bakr Younis next to him. Bleeding heavily from his injury, Gaddafi was
also weak and exhausted, having eaten and drunk little in days, and appeared
in poor shape to resist rebel blows. "Our findings call into question the
assertion by Libyan authorities that Muammar Gaddafi was killed in
crossfire, and not after his capture," Peter Bouckaert, Human Rights Watch's
emergencies director, said on Wednesday.
Ironically, Gaddafi might have escaped Sirt had it not been for a decision
to take wounded loyalists with him. According to Human Rights Watch's
interviews, what was supposed to be a pre-dawn operation in the dark turned
into a lengthy maneuver in broad daylight, involving a large convoy of
vehicles that <
http://topics.time.com/nato/> NATO quickly spotted from the
air and fired on. Gaddafi's fifth son Mutassim, who had led the regime's
battle for Sirt, was captured by Misratah militia and driven to that
city-which had a withstood a brutal siege by Gaddafi forces-where he was
executed in captivity.
Now the question is whether the rebels have brought Gaddafi back alive to
stand trial. The answer remains unclear, since fighters who had suffered
decades of Gaddafi's dictatorship all started to thrash him, with one
stabbing him in his anus with a bayonet-a wound that might have caused a
fatal loss of blood, according to Human Rights Watch interviews.
Yet despite the turmoil, Libya's rebel leaders were in phone contact with
the fighters on the scene from their Benghazi headquarters-a fact that was
not clear at the time. That raises questions about whether or not they
pushed to get Gaddafi back alive. Ali Tarhouni, who'd been Jibril's deputy
when Gaddafi was killed, said that a government official in their Benghazi
headquarters had called Gaddafi's captors, and handed the telephone to him.
"I got the person right next to him [Gaddafi]," he told me in a phone
interview on Wednesday, recalling that extraordinary moment. "He was still
alive." Tarhouni did not say whether the order was to bring Gaddafi in
alive, since the call was to confirm that the rumors of his capture were
true.
One year on, in fact, Libyan leaders-who have since held the country's first
free elections in decades-express huge relief that Gaddafi was killed. Most
are convinced that a Gaddafi trial would have complicated their ability to
rebuild the country after decades of dictatorship. As it is, the new leaders
have sputtered along for a year, feuding among themselves and unable to
bring the country's myriad armed factions under national control. And
besides, there was virtually no appetite among ordinary Libyans to see the
dictator given a fair hearing in court. "There was a serene relief," says
Jalal el-Gallal, the wartime spokesman for the rebels' National Transitional
Council, recalling the atmosphere inside their Benghazi headquarters that
day, when they realized Gaddafi was dead. "We needed to move on, and
Gaddafi, by dying, made that easier."
But what of the scores of others who were killed that day? Human Rights
Watch says at least 66 Gaddafi loyalists appear to have been "summarily
executed" as unarmed prisoners in Sirt during the hours after Gaddafi's
death on Oct. 20. The organization analyzed phone video shot by rebels who
brought the remaining loyalists back to Sirt's Mahari Hotel, and then
compared those in captivity to the decomposing bodies a Human Rights Watch
team had examined at the hotel after the massacre. Before shooting them,
says the report, rebels took their weapons from them, and "after bringing
them under their total control, subjected them to brutal beatings."
Neither Libyan leaders nor the International Criminal Court have
investigated the shooting in custody of Gaddafi's remaining fighters, nor
the details of Gaddafi's death or the apparent execution of his son
Motassim. That, says Human Rights Watch, is a mistake which could haunt
Libya's new leaders, as they attempt to stabilize the country and bring
under their control the many militia groups, including the powerful Misratah
brigade which caught Gaddafi. "One of Libya's greatest challenges is to
bring its well-armed militias under control and end their abuses," Bouckaert
said. "A good first step would be to investigate the mass executions of
October 20, 2011, the most serious abuse by opposition forces documented so
far."
Read more:
<
http://world.time.com/2012/10/18/how-did-gaddafi-die-a-year-later-unanswere
d-questions-and-bad-blood/#ixzz29gs7T6Bs>
http://world.time.com/2012/10/18/how-did-gaddafi-die-a-year-later-unanswered
-questions-and-bad-blood/#ixzz29gs7T6Bs
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Received on Thu Oct 18 2012 - 18:01:50 EDT
