Algeria Hostage Crisis: Grim News That Can Be Traced to the ‘Triumphant’ Removal of Gaddafi
THE INDEPENDENT: Gaddafi’s overthrow broke all kinds of local ethnic, tribal and commercial bargains and power-broking arrangements that we never understood

“Take but degree away, untune that string, and hark what discord follows.”

This Jacobean plea for stability should be ringing in our ears as we watch the latest manifestation of instability in the Middle East/North Africa (Mena), this time in Algeria. And while much of the Arab Spring was self-generated, current troubles in the Sahel owe a great deal to the Nato “triumph” in assisting in the downfall of Gaddafi. » | Jonathan Shaw* | Thursday, January 17, 2013

* Maj Gen Jonathan Shaw was Chief of Staff of UK Land Forces between 2007 and 2008. He joined the Parachute Regiment in 1981 and went on to serve in the Falklands, Kosovo and Iraq before joining the MoD

Col Gaddafi’s Children 'Flee Algeria’
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Col Muammar Gaddafi’s children have fled Algeria, fearing the oil-rich dictatorship’s improving relations with the new Libya authorities is undermining their safe haven.

Tight restrictions on the family and the prospect of a deal to allow Gaddafi’s widow back into Libya prompted the family to seek refuge elsewhere in Africa, regional officials said.

Reports in the Arabic press this week said that Aisha Gaddafi, the lawyer and most prominent member of the clan, had moved with her brother Hannibal and half-brother Mohammad to an African country.

Because of the UN flight ban on the Gaddafi inner circle, the siblings could most readily gain access to Niger, the impoverished Saharan state where a third brother, Saadi, lives on the presidential compound.

Niger is one of the few options open to the family as offers of asylum in Zimbabwe and Venezuela were impractical. Other countries are less reliable. Mauritania extradited Abdullah Senussi, Aisha’s uncle and Gaddafi’s intelligence chief back to Libya this summer.

A series of recent developments triggered the decision to leave the highly protected, secluded compound that the Gaddafis were granted inAlgerian government, a family associate said. “Definitely they wanted to get out,” he said.

Aisha Gaddafi is said to have grown increasingly frustrated with the restrictions on her communications imposed by the Algerian regime. » | Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent | Sunday, November 11, 2012

Gaddafi Clung to a Fading Reality
As the uprising spread, the Libyan leader still banked on popular support, and wondered why his allies were defecting.

Glorifying Gaddafi Banned in Libya
In Tripoli, bookstores are full of selections on a range of topics from democracy building to Libya's modern history. Many of these books were banned under the rule of the late Muammar Gaddafi who was removed from power last year. Now, international rights groups fear the the country's interim National Transitional Council could be headed down a similar path of restricting freedom of speech, after it passed a new law that criminalises the glorification of the former regime and its leader. Al Jazeera's Omar Al Saleh reports from Tripoli.

France Election: Nicolas Sarkozy Forced to Deny He Received 50 Million Euros from Muammar Gaddafi

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Nicolas Sarkozy was forced to deny allegations he had received 50 million euros from the late Muammar Gaddafi as France's presidential rivals accused each other of dirty tricks a week before election day.

With the contest approaching its climax, Mr Sarkozy effectively accused his left wing rivals of orchestrating what he described as a “despicable forgery”.

Amid mutual smear claims, Mr Sarkozy and François Hollande held giant rallies in Paris and Toulouse on Sunday ahead of a crunch two-and-a-half-hour televised debate on Wednesday. More than 20 million French are expected to tune in for the lone duel ahead of the May 6 runoff that Mr Hollande is polled to win by up to 10 percentage points.

On Saturday, the investigative news website Mediapart [E] published what it said was a copy of a Libyan regime document proving that Mr Sarkozy and Col Gaddafi – onetime allies – had an illegal financial arrangement to help propel Mr Sarkozy to power in 2007.

Written in Arabic and signed by Moussa Koussa, Col Gaddafi’s intelligence chief in 2006, it refers to an “agreement in principle to support the campaign for the candidate for the presidential elections, Nicolas Sarkozy, for a sum equivalent to 50 million euros.”

However, the memo’s supposed recipient – Bashir Saleh, Gaddafi’s former chief of staff and head of his sovereign wealth fund – yesterday denied receiving such a document. A lawyer for Mr Saleh, currently in exile in France, said he expressed his “grave reservations” over its authenticity. » | Henry Samuel, Paris | Sunday, April 29, 2012

Doku – Libyen: Porträt, Muammar al-Gaddafi oder ‘Das libysche Paradox’, ARTE France

Gaddafi 'Raped Countless Women during Years in Power', Claims New Documentary

MAIL ONLINE: German broadcaster RTL is to screen controversial programme next week / It includes interviews with the late dictator's inner circle / Report claims women were attacked within moments of meeting Gaddafi

Late Libyan dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi raped countless women during his years in power, according to an explosive new documentary.

German broadcaster RTL is set to screen the controversial programme - which includes interviews with his inner circle - next Monday.

Reporter Antonia Rados said; 'There were many women in Libya spellbound by Gaddafi who wanted to meet him. And when they did he raped them.'

She said that his female bodyguards, who were supposed to lay down their lives to protect him, were also victims.

A prominent Libyan psychologist Dr Seham Sergewa said he knew of at least five of his Amazonian bodyguards who were raped by him.

Rape as a means of subduing the population was also passed on to soldiers and loyal militias who were provided with condoms and Viagra to encourage their assaults. Read on and comment » | Allan Hall | Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Aktien und Immobilien: Italien beschlagnahmt Gaddafis Milliarden-Vermögen

SPIEGEL ONLINE: Italienische Finanzbehörden haben zugeschlagen: Sie konfiszierten Vermögen im Wert von 1,1 Milliarden Euro, das dem getötetem libyschen Machthaber Gaddafi und seiner Familie gehört haben soll - darunter befinden sich Immobilien in Rom, Aktien von großen Konzernen sowie Konten.

Rom - Der frühere libysche Machthaber Muammar al-Gaddafi hatte offenbar viel Geld in die Europäische Union geschafft: Am Mittwoch beschlagnahmten italienische Behörden Vermögen im Wert von 1,1 Milliarden Euro, das dem getötetem ehemaligen Diktator und seiner Familie gehört haben soll. Wie die Polizei mitteilte, stellte sie auf Ersuchen des Internationalen Strafgerichtshofs (IStGH) in Den Haag bewegliches Eigentum und Immobilien, Aktien und Konten sicher. » | lgr/dpa/AFP/dapd | Mittwoch, 28. März 2012

Aisha Gaddafi Claims Severe Emotional Distress at Images of Father's Execution

THE GUARDIAN: Israeli lawyer Nick Kaufman is demanding an investigation into circumstances surrounding the death of Gaddafi

The daughter of the former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has hired an Israeli lawyer to petition the international criminal court [sic] to investigate the circumstances of the death of her father.

Aisha Gaddafi, who fled Libya in August before the capture and killing of her father by opposition forces, claims to have been caused "severe emotional distress" by the images of his death and the treatment of his body.

Nick Kaufman, a former senior prosecutor at the ICC and now an international lawyer based in Jerusalem, wrote to the ICC prosecutor Jose Luis Moreno-Ocampo earlier this month to demand an immediate investigation.

Gaddafi and his son Mutassim, Aisha's brother, "were murdered in the most horrific fashion with their bodies thereafter displayed and grotesquely abused in complete defiance of Islamic law. The images of this savagery were broadcast throughout the world causing my client severe emotional distress," said the letter, which has been seen by the Guardian. » | Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem | Thursday, December 29, 2011

Vladimir Putin Lashes Out at America for Killing Gaddafi and Backing Protests

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Vladimir Putin has accused his political opponents at home of trying to destabilise Russia on the West's orders and alleged that the United States killed Libyan dictator Col Muammar Gaddafi.

In a ferocious verbal tirade broadcast on state TV that lasted more than four and a half hours, the Russian prime minister made it clear he was determined to return to the Russian presidency next year, scornfully dismissing recent demonstrations against him.

"I know that students were paid some money - well, that's good if they could earn something," he said, referring to the biggest protest of its kind since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union last Saturday.

Facing down the biggest challenge of his almost twelve years in power, the Russian strong man insisted that the disputed parliamentary election which triggered the protests was not flawed, rejecting calls for a re-run outright.

"It properly reflected the real balance of power in the country," he said during a live televised question and answer session that has become an annual tradition. "As for the fairness or unfairness: the opposition will always say the elections were not fair. Always. This happens everywhere, in all countries." Repeatedly accusing his domestic critics and opponents of taking money from the West to do him down, he claimed there was a plot to destabilise Russia by effecting a velvet revolution there.

"There is a well-tested scheme to destabilise society," he said.

Scornfully recalling Ukraine's pro-Western Orange revolution in 2004, he said that anti-Kremlin opposition figures had advised Ukraine's orange movement at the time and had now brought the same technology to Russia. "Some of my critics are sincere, they must be heard and respected. The rest are pawns in the hands of foreign agents. There are people with Russian passports but who work in the interests of foreign states." Unruffled and outwardly supremely confident, he even quipped that the street protests were only possible because he tolerated freedom of expression. » | Andrew Osborn, in Moscow | Thursday, December 15, 2011

LSE Attacked over 'Disastrous' Ties to Gaddafi's Libya
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A catalogue of failures by senior dons allowed one of Britain’s top universities to establish a “disastrous” relationship with Gaddafi’s Libya, according to a damning report.

The London School of Economics built up increasingly extensive ties to the regime over almost a decade after admitting Muammar Gaddafi's most high-profile son, Saif al-Islam, in 2002.

In a series of blunders, the university allowed Saif Gaddafi to start a PhD despite concerns over his academic ability and accepted a £1.5m donation from his personal charity with limited inquiries into the source of the cash.

Its links to the regime were so extensive that at one point the university was even nicknamed the “Libyan School of Economics”, it was revealed.

The inquiry – carried out by Lord Woolf, the former Lord Chief Justice – found that the relationship was allowed to grow “unchecked and to a degree unnoticed until their effect was overwhelming” when the Gaddafi regime started to crumble this year. Muammar Gaddafi was eventually killed by rebels in October and his son was captured in mid-November.

In a damning conclusion, the report said: “The mistakes and errors of judgment go beyond those that could be expected from an institute of the LSE's distinction." » | Graeme Paton, Education Editor | Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Related »

Niger Grants Asylum to Saadi Gaddafi

THE GUARDIAN: Son of Muammar Gaddafi is being treated as refugee in Niger, confirms President Mahamadou Issoufou

Muammar Gaddafi's son Saadi has been granted asylum in Niger on humanitarian grounds, the country's president confirmed on Friday.

Mahamadou Issoufou insisted he knew nothing of the whereabouts of another of the slain Libyan leader's sons, Saif al-Islam, who is wanted by the international criminal court (ICC).

"We have agreed on granting asylum to Saadi Gaddafi for humanitarian reasons," Issoufou said during a visit to Pretoria in South Africa.

Saadi, 38, and other Libyans who fled with him into Niger were being treated as refugees, he added. "But we have told them very clearly they cannot engage in political or subversive activities." » | David Smith in Pretoria | Friday, November 11, 2011

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Niger grants asylum to Saadi Gaddafi: Niger has risked the wrath of the new authorities in neighbouring Libya by granting asylum to Col Muammar Gaddafi's third son in defiance of an Interpol request for his extradition. ¶ Saadi Gaddafi, a bisexual playboy, was granted asylum on "humanitarian" grounds, the Niger president said, adding it was unlikely he would ever be extradited back to his home country. ¶ Saadi, who crossed into Niger in the last weeks of his father's regime, has been under house arrest in a state guest house in the capital, Niamey. » | Aislinn Lang, Pretoria | Friday, November 11, 2011

Fjordman’s Latest Essay: What is Wrong With Western Elites?

GATES OF VIENNA: Libya’s autocratic ruler Muammar Qaddafi was brutally tortured and killed on 20 October 2011 after France, Britain, the USA and NATO had actively given military support to rebel troops that were known to include groups with ties to terrorist organizations like al-Qaeda.

As writer Diana West said, “Qaddafi was not killed in retaliation for his attacks on American servicemen in Berlin in 1986, or the downing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie in 1989. He was not killed for his central role in the USSR’s terror networks going back to the 1960s and 1970s. He was killed after coming over to our side of George Bush’s ‘war on terror’ in the final phase of a civil war in Libya in which his regime fought al Qaeda affiliates. Horrific as it sounds, Qaddafi was killed because we and our NATO allies joined the other side.”

In February 2011, a day before he quit as Egypt’s president after popular uprisings, Hosni Mubarak had harsh words for his former allies in the United States and their misguided quest for democracy in the Middle East. “They may be talking about democracy but they don’t know what they’re talking about and the result will be extremism and radical Islam.” » | Posted by Baron Bodissey | Monday, October 31, 2011

Todesursache Gaddafi starb an Lähmung des Atemzentrums
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Die Todesursache von Libyens Diktator steht fest: Nach SPIEGEL-Informationen ist Gaddafi gestorben, weil Gehirnteile eingeklemmt wurden. Dadurch kam es zur Lähmung der Atmung. Die Obduktion zeigte einen sonst erstaunlich gut erhaltenen Körper.

Hamburg - Libyens gestürzter Machthaber Muammar al-Gaddafi ist nach SPIEGEL-Informationen an den Folgen einer sogenannten Herniation gestorben, einer Einklemmung von Gehirnteilen mit einer anschließenden Lähmung des Atemzentrums. » | Sonntag 30. Oktober 2011

Gaddafis Have 'Slim to No Chance' of Hague Justice

Gaddafi Killer Faces Prosecution, Says Libyan Interim Government

THE GUARDIAN: NTC backs down from insistence Gaddafi died in crossfire and pledges justice for anyone proven to have fired lethal shot

Libya's interim government says it will prosecute anyone found responsible for the death of Muammar Gaddafi after his capture, in a retreat from its earlier insistence that the dictator had been killed by crossfire.

The change in position comes after a week of sustained criticism of the Libyan leader's captors, who used their camera phones to chronicle his death. The footage, including images of a wounded Gaddafi being sodomised with what looked like a bayonet, caused widespread revulsion outside the country.

Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, deputy chief of the National Transitional Council, said it would try to bring to justice anyone proven to have fired the shot to the head that killed Gaddafi.

"With regards to Gaddafi, we do not wait for anybody to tell us," he told the al-Arabiya satellite channel. "We had already launched an investigation. We have issued a code of ethics in handling of prisoners of war. I am sure that was an individual act and not an act of revolutionaries or the national army. Whoever is responsible for that [Gaddafi's killing] will be judged and given a fair trial." » | Martin Chulov and agencies | Thursday, October 27, 2011

Gaddafi's Driver on the Endgame: 'He Didn't Seem to Know What to Do'

THE GUARDIAN: Huneish Nasr, who served Gaddafi for 30 years, tells how denial and confusion marked the final days of a crumbling regime

Huneish Nasr last saw the boss he served for 30 years standing in the ruins of Sirte looking confused as all hell broke loose around them.

"Everything was exploding," said Nasr, Muammar Gaddafi's personal driver, recalling the moments before the deposed dictator was caught last week. "The revolutionaries were coming for us. He wasn't scared, but he didn't seem to know what to do. It was the only time I ever saw him like that."

Minutes later, euphoric rebels had ended Gaddafi's last stand, over-running the ruined quarter of his birthplace that had served as his final, ignominious refuge.

Nasr said he threw his hands up in surrender as gun-toting rebels approached. He was knocked to the ground with a rifle butt, which blackened his left eye. Gaddafi was being pulled from a drainpipe just before Nasr fell. He caught a final glimpse of his master being swarmed over by rebels. Then blows rained down on them both. » | Martin Chulov in Mosrata | Wednesday, October 26, 2011

THE GUARDIAN: Qatar admits sending hundreds of troops to support Libya rebels: Qatari chief-of-staff reveals extent of involv[e]ment, saying troops were responsible for training, communications and strategy » | Ian Black in Tripoli | Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Arab TV Station Airs Pictures of Gaddafi Funeral Prayer
Dubai-based Al Alaan TV have broadcast amateur footage that they claim shows the bodies of Colonel Gaddafi, his son Mutassim and his defence minister Abu Bakr Yunis prior to their burial in the Sahara Desert.

Read short article here

Obama – Gaddafi-Tod ist "Botschaft an die Diktatoren"

WELT ONLINE: Gegenüber dem Talkshow-Moderator Jay Leno bezeichnet der US-Präsident den gewaltsamen Tod Gaddafis als Warnung für alle Gewaltherrscher.

US-Präsident Barack Obama sieht den gewaltsamen Tod des früheren libyschen Machthabers Muammar al-Gaddafi als Warnung für alle Gewaltherrscher. „Man wünscht natürlich niemandem solch ein Ende, aber es sendet eine klare Botschaft an die Diktatoren rund um den Erdball“, sagte Obama bei einem Auftritt in der Show von Talkshow-Moderator Jay Leno.

Der Arabische Frühling habe Gaddafi eine Chance zu einem demokratischen Wandel gegeben. „Wir haben ihm jede Gelegenheit dazu gegeben, aber er wollte das nicht.“

Obama kritisierte jedoch die Art, wie der tote Diktator öffentlich zur Schau gestellt wurde. „Es gibt einen bestimmten Anstand, mit dem Tote behandelt werden müssen“, sagte er. » | dpa/ks | Mittwoch 26. Oktober 2011

Libya: Col Gaddafi Buried at Dawn

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Col Muammar Gaddafi was buried at an unknown location at dawn on Tuesday, according to NTC officials.

Officials said earlier that the ousted Libyan leader would be buried in a secret desert grave, ending a wrangle over his rotting corpse that led many to fear for the country's governability.

Transitional government forces had put the body on show in a cold store in Misurata while they argued over what to do with it, until its decay forced them on Monday to end the display.

His son Mutassim is thought to have been buried in the same ceremony. A few relatives and officials were in attendance, according to a Misurata military council official.

Yesterday, the government bowed to international pressure and announced a commission to determine how Gaddafi died after he was cornered in a drain while trying to flee Sirte, his besieged home town. » | Ben Farmer, Tripoli and Barney Henderson | Tuesday, October 25, 2011

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Prince of Wales 'praised Col Muammar Gaddafi in 2007 letter': The Prince of Wales was used to improve Britain's relationship with Muammar Gaddafi and praised the Libyan leader in a letter to him in 2007, according to reports. ¶ In his letter the Prince complimented Gaddafi for his work with Christians, Aids victims and the British Council. ¶ He wrote: "I just wanted to write to Your Excellency to say how heartened I am by the breadth of these developments." » | Tuesday, October 25, 2011

PARIS MATCH: Exclusif. Le dernier message de Kadhafi à l’Occident: C’est peut-être le dernier courrier adressé par Kadhafi au monde occidental : un appel au secours lancé à son ancien ami Silvio Berlusconi écrit le 5 août dernier. Dans un élan désespéré, le président de la Jamahiriya y rappelle le pacte d’amitié scellé moins de deux ans plus tôt entre l’Italie et la Libye et enjoint le président du Conseil italien à faire cesser les bombardements de l’Otan sur son pays. » | François de Labarre - Parismatch.com | lundi 24 octobre 2011

Comment:

Qadhafi has gone. Cameron was determined that he should go. He got his way. Now Islamism will take over instead. It's already happened in Tunisia, and the introduction of sharia law has already begun in Libya. Seif ul-Islam said that if his father were toppled, it would make way for exactly what the West didn't want: Islamism. And he was right.

This in no way means that either Col. Qadhafi or his son were desirable. They were not. But what has really been achieved in Libya? And what has the Arab Spring bought to north Africa? Soon, Europe will be encircled by Islamism to the south and east. There will be an islamist crescent, stretching from west to north-east. Some achievement! – © Mark

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