Muammar al-Gaddafi 1942-2011. Photo OAU 1975

NATO involvement

NATO have said that a French jet bombed 2 military vehicles in a convoy leaving the area of Sirte at 8.30 am local time. Other reports from the USA suggest a predator drone was involved. In addition, “Sky sources” claim that the RAF was involved in seriously injuring Saif al-Islam, also in Sirte.

The death of Muammar Gaddafi

Video evidence shows Muammar Gaddafi was alive, although perhaps injured, when captured and surrounded by a rebel mob:

The last words of Colonel Gaddafi on the video were “This is wrong, this is against Islamic law,” and then he said to his abusers: “Do you know right from wrong?”

More mobile phone footage makes it clear that he has been shot shortly after he was captured. This graphic footage shows him wiping the blood from his eye:

And this footage, taken on another phone, shows a gun being brandished in Muammar Gaddafi’s face:

He (or his body) was taken to Misrata. It has become pretty standard practice for the rebels to kill their prisoners, particularly those with darker skin, a trend set in the early days when prisoners were massacred and the crime blamed on loyalist forces to provide propaganda for a NATO intervention.

Rebel eyewitnesses in Sirte claimed to Sky News that they shot Gaddafi in the stomach with a 9mm revolver. The late assertion by the NTC that Gaddafi was killed by a shot to the head during a firefight between the rebels and his supporters after he had been loaded onto a rebel vehicle on the way to hospital is typical of the attitude of the rebels toward the truth.

Mutassim Gaddafi alive after capture

Muammar’s son, Mutassim Gaddafi was captured at the same time as his father and video shows him still alive after capture, drinking water and smoking a cigarette:

and also in this video:

NTC statements regarding Mutassim’s death

On the death of Mutassim the Mahmoud Jibril said:

“As for Mutassim there is a wound in the head and a break in the skull and five bullets in the back and one in the neck.”

Mohamed Leith, an NTC field commander, told AFP:

“We found him dead. We put his body and that of (former defence minister) Abu Bakr Yunis in an ambulance to take them to Misrata,”

Here is graphic video footage showing Mutassim’s body after he was killed, with rebels celebrating. There is a serious wound to his upper chest which was not there in the earlier video:

The abuse of corpses

Muammar Gaddafi’s body was later filmed being dragged through the streets of Misrata and then put on display in a supermarket freezer in Misrata for people to photograph with their mobile phones. This is a familiar scene for those who have watched earlier rebel atrocities, some documented by HRI, such as the lynchings at the rebel HQ in Benghazi. others too appalling to show.

The killing of captives and abuse of corpses are war crimes; ones which have been practiced on a large scale by the Libyan rebels, since the beginning of the rebellion, with the full approval and participation of their leadership as we have seen in numerous videos including this one:

The laws of War

Under Rule 47. Attacking persons who are recognized as hors de combat is prohibited.
A person hors de combat is:
(a) anyone who is in the power of an adverse party;
(b) anyone who is defenceless because of unconsciousness, shipwreck, wounds or sickness; or
(c) anyone who clearly expresses an intention to surrender; provided he or she abstains from any hostile act and does not attempt to escape.

Regarding the treatment of dead bodies:

Rule 115. The dead must be disposed of in a respectful manner and their graves respected and properly maintained. [IAC/NIAC]

In the case of Muammar and Mutassim Gaddafi the bodies should be treated with respect in accordance with Islamic custom.

Reaction of human rights bodies

Amnesty International and the United Nations Human Rights Office have said that it is essential to conduct a full, independent and impartial inquiry to establish the circumstances of Colonel al-Gaddafi’s death but the current international practice, of course, is one law for NATO’s adversaries and no law for NATO and its proxies.

It has been reported that, according to Mahmoud Jibril the International Criminal Court initially asked that one of its forensic investigators be allowed to examine Muammar’s body but then decided to accept the post-mortem report provided by the NTC.

Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State, reportedly quipped “We came, we saw, he died.” [1]

Lessons for human rights activists

The barbaric deaths of Muammar and his son at the hands of the NATO-backed rebels are only a surprise to those who have depended on the mainstream media and the NATO propaganda machine for their information on this conflict.

There needs to be a full inquiry by human rights activists into how the media, people across the political spectrum and humanitarian organisations were hijacked into supporting or remaining silent in the face of the NATO bombing campaign, the ethnic cleaning and atrocities committed against black people and the subversion of democratic, civilised discourse which the Libyan conflict marks.

HRI Mark
(updated 21,22 October)