Libyan
rebels abused and mass murdered Colonel Gaddafi, his son Mutassim, and 66
loyalists, after their capture a year ago, Human Rights Watch says. It calls
for an investigation and prosecution of those responsible for what they slam as
war crime.
The
50-page report "Death of a Dictator: Bloody Vengeance in Sirte"
details the last hours of Muammar Gaddafi’s life on October 20, 2011, when he
was caught trying to leave the city with his remaining supporters.
HRW
admits difficulty in reconstructing the final days of Libya’s ex-leader since
“he was surrounded by a small circle of trusted confidants and bodyguards, most
of whom were killed in the attempted escape from Sirte,” stated the report.
The report
relies heavily on interviews with Mansour Dhao, a senior security official and
head of the pro-Gaddafi People's Guard, and other surviving witnesses of the
event. The interviews took place in Libya two days after Gaddafi’s death.
Capture,
abuse, murder
Gaddafi
is said to have fled Tripoli with a handful of his trustful men in the end of
August to his hometown of Sirte, where he “spent most of his time reading the
Koran and praying,” Dhao told HRW.
“His
communications with the world were cut off. There was no communication, no
television, no news,” he added.
On
October 20, Gadaffi’s son Mutassim deemed the situation unsafe and organized a
50-vehicle convoy for all to flee the city in the morning. The convoy consisted
of 250 people, including civilians who supported Gaddafi.
As the
cars were trying to make their getaway they were struck by a NATO air-fired
missile, which exploded next to the car carrying Gaddafi. In defense, the
convoy turned on to a dirt road, but was pinned down by militia fighters and
then further bombed by NATO fighter jets.
After
the bombings Gaddafi, accompanied by 10 other people, including his bodyguards,
tried to take shelter by a drainage pipe, but was once again attacked by
militia.
One of
Gaddafi’s bodyguards reportedly threw three grenades at the rebels, but one of
the grenades hit a cement wall and bounced back, injuring Gaddafi and leading
to his capture.
“As soon
as the militia fighters had custody of Gaddafi, they began abusing him. Blood
was already gushing from the shrapnel wound in his head. As he was being led to
the main road, a militiaman stabbed him in his anus with what appears to have
been a bayonet, causing another rapidly bleeding wound,” described the report.
Video
clips taken of the capture suggest that after enduring abuses Gaddafi was shot
by militia fighters.
Report
suggests that rebels took “bloody revenge” against Gaddafi and his loyal
supporters in light of the eight-month civil war.
An HRW
team on the ground counted that 103 pro-Gaddafi supporters died during that
escape. Half of those were killed by NATO bombings, and the other half was
either killed in combat or executed.
On top
of that, 140 Gaddafi loyalists were taken prisoner, but instead of being
transferred to prison authorities, 66 of them were executed in a nearby hotel.
Gaddafi’s
son Mutassim was also captured alive, according to YouTube videos taken by his
captors. However, by the afternoon of the same day, Mutassim was dead with a
large new wound in his throat, suggesting he was murdered, HRW concluded.
“The
throat wound thus must have been inflicted after the videos of a captured
Mutassim were recorded, strongly indicating that he was killed in the custody
of his captors just hours after he was detained.”
HRW
points out that “these killings apparently comprise the largest documented
execution of detainees committed by anti-Gaddafi forces during the eight-month
conflict in Libya. The execution of persons in custody is a war crime.”
Libya’s
powerless authority
HRW also
accuses Libyan transitional government of lack of control and unity for failing
to properly investigate and prosecute those responsible for the killings in
Sirte, a year after the incident.
“To some
extent, the failure of Libya’s authorities to investigate shows their
continuing lack of control over the heavily armed militias, and the urgent need
to bring Libya’s numerous militias under the full control of the new
authorities.”
UN and
International Criminal Court (ICC) have already been calling upon Libya to
investigate Gaddafi’s death back in October 2011.
ICC had
spoken out that there were strong indications Gaddafi was killed in custody,
yet it left things be by letting Libya to investigate on its own.
Libya
announced it had created a committee to look into circumstances of death.
However, there has not been a proper update into the investigation in just
under a year.
Back in
January, Gaddafi’s daughter Aisha hired Nick Kaufman, an Israeli lawyer, to
convince the International Criminal Court to investigate the full circumstances
of her father’s death, arguing that time for a proper probe is running out.
“[The
investigation] would involve forensic analysis of the crime scene, ballistic
analysis of the crime scene, it would involve taking detailed statements from
objective and independent witnesses,” Kaufman told RT. And with time memories
deteriorate, people forget, and evidence goes missing.
Yet
Aisha’s efforts failed to yield results.
When HRW
contacted Libya government imploring them to take action, local authorities
stated that all murders were the result of Gaddafi regime’s “dictatorship” and
that rebels were defending themselves. However, they failed to account for
those evident executions.
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