“This is a sad day”
Lockerbie bomber Megrahi dies in Tripoli | Al Jazeera
Eleven years after being convicted of planting a bomb on Pan Am Flight 103, which exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie on December 21, 1988, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi has died in the Libyan city of Tripoli, his brother has said.
Megrahi was found guilty of killing all 259 people on board the flight, along with 11 other victims on the ground, by a special court set up in The Netherlands in 2001.
Magrahi has insisted his innocence throughout, claiming he was an airline executive, while prosecutors at his trial described him as an intelligence officer for the Libyan Intelligence Services, which the court accepted.
“The torture is being carried out by officially recognised military and security entities as well as by a multitude of armed militias operating outside any legal framework…after all the promises to get detention centres under control, it is horrifying to find that there has been no progress to stop the use of torture.”
Several people have died after being tortured by militias in Libyan detention centres, humanitarian group Amnesty International has said. It claimed to have seen patients in Tripoli, Misrata and Gheryan with open wounds to their head, limbs and back.
Moammar Gadhafi’s son Seif al-Islam is arrested in Libya
Saif al-Islam, son of the late former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, sits after his capture, with his fingers wrapped in bandages and his legs covered with a blanket, at an undisclosed location, in this photograph aired on Free Libya TV on Nov. 19. The International Criminal Court Prosecutor’s Office said on Saturday it had received confirmation of the arrest of Gaddafi’s son, Seif al-Islam, from Libya’s Ministry of Justice. (read more)
Breaking: UN votes to end NATO no-fly zone in Libya
The UN Security Council has voted unanimously to end NATO’s no-fly zone over Libya, despite the country’s calls for a delay.
The 15-member UN Security Council voted on Thursday to end the no-fly zone, in place since March, from 11.59 pm Libyan time on October 31.
Gaddafi requests Sirte burial in will
A will apparently written by Muammar Gaddafi expresses the wish that he be buried in Sirte, the town of his birth, next to “my family and relatives”.
The will surfaced on Gaddafi’s website, Seven Day News, on Sunday. In the will, Gaddafi urges his supporters to continue to resist foreign occupation. He also alludes to the fact that he chose to fight and die inside Libya rather than picking the route, in his view dishonourable, of foreign exile. He implies that he received “many offers” of support from other countries.
The document, translated into English, states:
“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.”
The testament is likely to further confuse the debate over where Gaddafi should be buried. His body is still being kept in a refrigerated warehouse in Misrata, four days after his capture and death at the hands of rebel fighters last Thursday. (source)
“Gaddafi is gone, your turn is coming Bashar,” protesters shouted on Friday in Hama. “Our souls, our blood, we sacrifice for you, Libya!”
Deaths have been reported during the latest protests in Syria, including up to 16 in the flashpoint central city of Homs, according to activist groups.
Two people were shot dead on Friday in Homs by security forces manning a checkpoint, while 14 more were killed as they participated in mass protests, the opposition Local Co-ordination Committees said.
Syria’s uprising has proved resilient over the past seven months in the face of a fierce crackdown estimated to have killed more than 3,000 people according to UN estimates, but it has shown some signs of stalling in recent weeks. (source)
This political cartoon highlights the difficulties many people (especially journalists) had spelling Gaddafi’s (Ghaddafi/Gadhafi/Kaddafi/Kadhafi) name. (BY JOE HELLER)
How newspapers around the world covered the death of the Libyan dictator. Warning: contains graphic images. (source)
Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi is killed. What are your reactions?
“We have been waiting for this moment for a long time. Muammar Qaddafi has been killed. The day of real liberation. We were serious about giving him a fair trial. It seems God has some other wish.”
Mahmoud Jibril, the prime minister of the Transitional National Council, the interim government, told a news conference in Tripoli. (source)
Map: Gaddafi’s hometown of Sirte, where he was reportedly captured and killed by NTC forces
Related:
Muammar Gaddafi reportedly killed as Libyan forces seize SirteA timeline of the war in Libya from revolt to reports of Muammar Gaddafi’s death
Peter Goodspeed: Gaddafi’s demise offers new opportunities, and dangers
Photos: Libyans celebrates as Muammar Gaddafi reportedly killed
Analysis: Gaddafi’s rule defined by bloodshed and repression
‘Today Libya, tomorrow Wall Street’: Graffiti in Sirte
National Transitional Council (NTC) fighters rest outside a shuttered shop along a street in the town of Sirte, Libya, on October 16. Fighting around the last pockets of resistance in Moammar Gadhafi’s hometown abated sharply with some besieging troops saying they were deliberately holding fire after an exodus of civilians. (AFP)
Gadhafi loyalists in two small pockets of Sirte
Fighters loyal to deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi are now holding out in just two small pockets of his home town Sirte Wednesday, government commanders said after making gains overnight.
Gaddafi loyalists have fought tenaciously for weeks in Sirte, one of just two major towns they still control nearly two months since rebels seized the capital Tripoli.
Fighters from the interim Libyan government’s volunteer army walked slowly up the same battle-scarred streets strewn with empty ammunition cases where they had fought fierce clashes a day before. Other fighters searched the damaged houses as a few dazed civilians emerged from their basements. (Source)
“There are strong strikes in all directions. Today we will finish it. God willing, today we will capture Sirte.”
Colonel Ahmed El-Obeidi, an NTC commander, said.The latest assault in the ongoing battle for Sirte, the hometown of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, is currently under way, with Libyan fighters undertaking a major operation to try to end a three-week standoff. Medics said at least 12 anti-Gaddafi fighters had been killed and more than 120 others injured in the assault. (source)
