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During Muammar Gaddafi's rule over Libya, many crimes against humanity were committed by government forces against the Libyan population. Some of these include extrajudicial killings, public executions, and the torture of civilians. These violations are what caused the Libyan population to revolt against the regime.
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On April 7, 1976, university students all over Libya protested against human rights violations and authoritarian military control over all aspects of civilian lives. These protesters called for free and fair elections to take place and a more democratic system to be implemented in Libya. These protests were then violently suppressed by government forces through shootings and beatings, with many of the students being captured and detained. Universities and secondary schools were then all raided by Gaddafi in order to "silence and eliminate" the protesters.[1][2]
The detained students were kept in prisons until April 7, 1977, the anniversary of the event, which Gaddafi called "The Day of Judgement". On this day, the students were publicly executed by hanging in Benghazi with thousands of people watching the event live on television and in real life.[3] April 7 then became an anniversary that was celebrated by publicly executing civilians as well as defected government officials. This lasted until the late 80s-early 90s.[4]
Gaddafi's war with Chad did not only have a negative impact on Chad, it had a detrimental impact to the Libyan economy and the army. In the Toyota War alone, Libya had lost over US$1.5 Billion and an unbelievable amount of military equipment. This war was widely condemned by the Libyan population as they felt they had no right to invade another country that didn't belong to them.[5]
During this war, thousands of Libyan underage high school students were kidnapped from schools (in Benghazi, Tripoli, and the South) by the government without the consent or knowledge of their parents. After these boys were forcefully taken out of their schools, they were loaded onto busses and sent to Chad. Some of them were killed in battle, and some were deserted in Chad by the Libyan army. Thousands of families were left confused and unaware as to what happened to their sons, with most never hearing from them ever again.[6][7]
The Gaddafi regime was notorious for its common use of public executions as a sentence for Libyans who either spoke out against the regime, or lived abroad and were victims of Gaddafis "physical liquidation" against Libyan diasporas. These would come in the form of public hangings as well as gunfire. Some of the most notable victims of these executions were:[8]
- Omar A. Dabboub, 7 April 1977, Benghazi. A teacher who was executed by public hanging, for participating in the '76 student demonstrations.
- Mohammed bin Saud, 7 April 1977, Benghazi. A teacher who was executed by publicly hanging alongside Omar Dabboub, for participating in the '76 student demonstrations.
- Mahmoud A. Nafi', 21 April 1980, London. An attorney and a business man who was assassinated in his office in London.
- Mahmoud Banoun, April 1980, Tripoli. An engineer who was arrested in early April, died a few days later as a result of torture. His body delivered to family in sealed box.
- Abdul Jalil al-'Arif, April 1980, Rome. A successful business man who was a victim of Gaddafi's campaign of "physical liquidation" of opponents abroad.
- Naji bu Hawiya Khlyif, April 1982. A student who was arrested and died under torture, Aug. '82, Benghazi.
- Ahmed I. Makhluf, April 1982, A student who was arrested by Gaddafi security. He died under torture, Aug. '82, Benghazi.
- Mohammed M. Hfaf, 7 April 1983, Tripoli. A student who was imprisoned in April '73, and accused of membership in Islamic Liberation Party, despite there being no proof. Ten years later, on 7 April '83, he was executed by hanging in College of Engineering, Tripoli.
- Abdallah A. al-Mesallati, April, 1984, Tripoli. A student who was arrested on April 16, 1973, and sentenced to prison. Retried by Revolutionary Courts, sentenced to death, and executed in Tripoli Central Prison.
- Abdul Aziz al-Gharably, April, 1983, arrested. A student in Tripoli, suspected of membership in political party. Died in Jan. '84 as a result of torture and lack of medical care.
- Hafed. al-Madani, 16 April 1984, Tripoli. A student who was arrested following unrest at Engineering College, Nov. '80. Executed by public hanging at the College of Agriculture, Tripoli.
- Mustafa R. an-Nuwairy, April, 1984. A student who was elected President of the Student Union, academic year 1975–76. Elected Secretary of Benghazi chapter of Student Union. Expelled from Benghazi University and arrested in 1976. Arrested again in 1980 and sentenced to death and executed by the Revolutionary Committees in front of university students and staff.
- Hasan A. al-Kurdi, April 1984. Arrested among hundreds in Spring '73 in June. Accused with nine others of membership in Islamic Liberation Party and of writing articles opposing the regime, despite there being no proof whatsoever. On 7 Dec. '73, the Revolutionary Council issued resolution to stop the courts and release the accused. Re-arrested on the same day and held without trial until Feb. '77, sentenced to 15 years in prison, days later, the sentence increased to life imprisonment. Executed in prison without trial, April 1984.
- Ahmed Rafeeq al-Barrani, 3 April 1985, Cyprus. A business man who was assassinated in his office.
- Khamis al-Ghanai, executed alongside many others for allegedly calling the "Fatih Revolution" blasphemy, his body was dragged through the streets as hundreds of government forces would stomp and beat him up.[9][10]
Sadek Hamed Shuwehdy
One of the most notable Libyan executions is the execution of Al-Sadek Hamed Al-Shuwehdy. Sadek was a Libyan student and aeronautical engineer that had returned from America where he had been studying, and participated in peaceful protests against the Gaddafi regime.[11] He was arrested and detained for several months before his sentencing was made. The regime labeled him as "a terrorist from the Muslim Brotherhood" in order to justify his sentencing.[12] He was then executed in a large basketball stadium with thousands of people watching him from the stands, mostly children who were forced to attend as a school trip.[12]
The Gaddafi regime was notorious for its persecution of many ethnic groups, such as the Amazigh, Toubou, and the Tuareg people. The persecution was in the form of ethnic cleansing, which involved banning all Indigenous languages and the demolition of many Berber villages to replace them with Arabs. Gaddafi frequently described these minorities as "the Children of Satan".[13]
Banned languages and cultures
The Amazigh language was entirely banned by the regime since Gaddafi saw it as an "Imperialist Invention". He declared that anyone who was studying the Amazigh language was drinking "poisoned milk from their mother's breast". Berber activists and people who publicly spoke the Amazigh language were rounded up and jailed.[14] Even singing traditional Berber songs landed them trouble. Those attempting to promote Amazigh culture, heritage and rights were persecuted, imprisoned and even killed.[15] Even Berber names were entirely banned by the regime.
In 1984, legislation was introduced that de facto banned the language in its promotion of Arabic. Law No. (12) on prohibiting the use of foreign languages and numerals in all transactions mandated the use of only Arabic in the public sphere. Later on, the Gaddafi regime passed an even more restrictive language law: Law No. (24), which prohibited the entire usage of the Amazigh language, which included banning Berber street names, writing on vehicles, buildings, posters, medical prescriptions, and the names of institutions.[16]
In 2012, the Amazigh language became a part of the school curriculum in Zuwara and many other small berber towns, and then was added to the official Libyan school curriculum in 2023.[17]
Persecution and Imprisonment of Berber Activists
Berber activists were heavily persecuted and suppressed by the Gaddafi regime. Many activists were either arrested and tortured or had assassination attempts carried out against them. Many were even detained for simply owning books that were written in Tamazight.[18]
Said Mahrooq a very well known Berber activist from the city of Jadu was subject to many incidents of police harassment and torture. He was then very suspiciously paralyzed after being run down by a car on the 21st of February 1979. He was left with a broken skull and permanent paralysis from the waist down. Many Berber activists accused the regime of purposefully coordinating this attack, because he was followed by the Libyan intelligence on a number of occasions leading to the assassination attempt.[19]
Abu Salim massacre
The Abu Salim massacre was a massacre that took place on June 29, 1996, against 1,270 wrongfully convicted prisoners.[20] Before the massacre, prisoners were forced to live in very dire and disgusting conditions, with many forced to eat rotten bug infested food and grass, urinate and drink out of the same cup, live in cells overrun by rats, and were even tortured on a normal basis with boulders and batons by security guards.[21] This caused many of the prisoners to catch deadly diseases and fevers. Family visits were also heavily restricted.[22][23]
A prisoner protest then took place because of these harsh conditions and food was distributed among the prisoners by other prisoners. The guards then opened fire, killing six prisoners and wounding 20. Government negotiators, including Abdullah Senussi, then met with prisoner representatives who asked for improved conditions, care for the sick and trials to be made in order to prove the innocence of these wrongfully convicted prisoners. Senussi did not accept to put prisoners on trial, but he agreed to the other conditions, once the captured guard was released.[24] The prisoners agreed. Hundreds of injured and sick prisoners were told they would receive medical care and were taken away in buses. They were never seen again and their whereabouts are unknown to this day.[25]
The next morning, June 29, many prisoners were rounded up into the courtyards of the central prison, and were shot and killed by gunfire from the rooftops. The survivors of the initial attack were then executed point blank. Eyewitnesses of the massacre recall hearing nonstop gunfire for a whole two hours. The bodies of the victims were burnt, and the bones were grounded up and dumped into the sea.[26]
The Gaddafi regime would deny for years that these killings ever occurred.[27]
Yarmuk Massacre
On August 23, 2011, detainees were held in a warehouse located in the Khalida Ferjan neighborhood in Salahaddin, south of Tripoli, adjacent to the Yarmuk Military Base. The detainees, numbering approximately 153, were almost entirely civilians. These detainees were often beat, electrocuted, starved, and even raped.[28] Guards from the Khamis Brigade conducted a roll call of the detainees and subsequently carried out a vicious attack. Survivors recounted guards opening fire from the roof of the warehouse and throwing grenades into the building. Many detainees were shot and killed during the assault.[29][30] 53 skulls were later found in one location and other corpses were discovered in a nearby shallow grave but there was a deliberate attempt to destroy victims’ bodies. There are known to be at least 20 survivors.[30][31] Videos were taken of the site of the massacre, showing the remains of the bodies which were mostly ashes.[32][33][34]
Survivors of the massacre provided testimonies of the events. Abdulrahim Ibrahim Bashir, one of the survivors, said he escaped the onslaught by fleeing over a wall while guards were reloading their weapons. He then hid in a nearby house with some other survivors, some of whom were wounded. When they came out after three days of hiding, they noticed the fire, met the rebel brigades, and discovered the site of the incinerator.[35][36]
Abdulrahim recounted witnessing guards killing wounded detainees and identified one of the perpetrators as a soldier named Ibrahim from Tajura.[29][37] He also testified to being forced to repeat the Shahada using Gaddafis name, and to refer to him as god.[32]
Shooting unarmed protestors
When the Arab Spring had reached Libya, thousands of Libyans took to the streets in demand of justice and freedom, as well as free and fair elections to take place.[38][39] Government troops alongside mercenaries cracked down violently against them, shooting hundreds of unarmed civilians and even crushing them to death using tanks. Hundreds were killed, including many women and children, and thousands were injured in the eastern cities such as Benghazi, Al-Beida, Derna, and Tobruk. Bodies began piling up on the streets, while hospitals overflowed with many being injured and many on the verge of death,[40] with most of being injured as to gunshot wounds in the head, neck, and chest.[41] Eyewitness accounts spoke of tanks crushing civilians in their path.[42][43] Ambulances were blocked by government troops from entering the place in order to save the lives of the ones who were shot.[44] The same thing happened when protests erupted in Tripoli in solidarity with Benghazi.[45]
Indiscriminate bombing and shelling of civilian areas
Gaddafi forces were also convicted of shelling towns with heavy weapons on almost every city, killing many civilians including women and children. Houses were constantly bombarded and destroyed by Loyalist troops and even hospitals were repeatedly bombed and targeted.[46] Loyalist troops had reportedly targeted civilian vehicles, with one of the attacks killing a mother with her four children, the oldest being 13.[47]
Benghazi was also a common target for bombing civilian infrastructure, during the Second Battle of Benghazi, multiple civilian houses were airstriked and destroyed. Constant shelling of civilian homes kill dozens of people, including many children.[48]
In Yafran, Gaddafi forces had launched many attacks targeting civilian infrastructure using grad rockets, tanks, and fighter jets. Patients and doctors in Yafran were forced to flee hospitals due to the mass bombing and shelling against.[49] Al-Qalaa had also faced harsh shelling and destruction by loyalists, killing many women and children.[50]
Misrata faced a 4-month siege by Pro-Gaddafi forces alongside mercenaries. Hundreds of civilians were murdered by the bombing and shelling of homes and bakeries. Cluster bombs were even used[51] to destroy civilian infrastructure and hundreds of rockets were launched on various neighborhoods in the city.[52] The Libyan government also intentionally rerouted the sewage system into the cities water wells, forcing thousands of civilians to drink contaminated water which made them ill, with many catching diseases and putting hundreds of thousands of civilians at risk of death.[53] This constant shelling of civilian infrastructure and resource blockade lasted for months until Misrata was liberated by rebel forces.
Rape of women
During the war, Gaddafis forces were accused of rape and sexual torture of hundreds of women and children. Over 8,000 rape cases were reported, with all of them being committed by Gaddafis forces.[54] Many of these women were stripped naked, raped, and then killed in front of their male relatives.[55]
Captured mercenaries admitted that they were forced by officers to enter homes, tie up and shoot the males, and rape the women and girls alongside Pro-Gaddafi forces.
The girls said nothing, they were tired and they were in bad shape because there were 20 officers before us. It happened in the morning, and lasted about an hour and a half. The officers brought in a music system and listened to pop music, and smoked and danced during the rapes. I want to emphasize that the officers forced us to rape.
— A captured mercenary’s testimony[56]
Libyan psychologist Siham Sergewa conducted various interviews, showing visual proof of how sexual torture was used against Libyan women. Her findings included disturbing images of abuse, such as cigarette burns, bite marks, and bruises. Sergewa began investigating after hearing reports from displaced women in Ajdabiya. She conducted a mental health survey among refugees on the Libyan borders with Tunisia and Egypt, receiving 50,000 responses. Out of these, 295 women reported being raped, all attributing the assaults to Gaddafi's soldiers.[57] These women described horrific experiences, including gang rapes and being raped in front of their husbands, who were then killed. Sergewa shared her research with the International Criminal Court.[58]
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