Great article. Touches on some of the atrocities committed by Gadaffi during his 42 years of autocratic rule. Must read!!
tsgf:
The Guardian have recently published an interesting video on their website featuring Peter Bouckaert of Human Rights Watch. In the video, Bouckaert pores through the various records, negatives and video footage that has been coming out of newly liberated Libya, in an attempt to highlight any human rights abuses imposed under the Gaddafi’s regime.
One such sickening example of the regime, was the 1984 show-trial and public hanging of thirty year-old Sadiq Hamed Shwedi - whose alleged crime was a conspiracy to assassinate the leader of the revolution.
The look of fear in his features is compounded by a quivering voice as he reiterates what he has been forced to say. In the background, amidst a furor of cheers, the watching crowd is largely made up of school children and students; forced to watch after being bussed into Benghazi’s basketball stadium.
Later on in the video Peter goes through early negatives captured during the 1969 Libyan revolution lead by Gaddafi. The documentation shows a somewhat human side of Gaddafi, depicted as a handsome late-twenty-something army officer relaxing, reading, even smiling; a far cry from the images we see of him today.
The varied content of the negatives quickly brings us crashing back to reality, reverting back to a series of public hangings and prisoners held captive by a perverted and sadistic regime.
Whether NATO involvement in Libya is right or wrong, one thing is certain. Gaddafi is a man that needs to be ousted from power, and whose regime needs to be judged on its actions.
A Libyan man mourns a rebel fighter killed during recent fighting with forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi near Brega in rebel-held Benghazi, Libya, Sunday, July 17, 2011.
اللـهـم انزله منزلاً مباركا وانت خير المنزلين
