The mystery of 53 dead in Sirte Mahari Hotel casts a new shadow on the CNT

Mystery of 53 dead in Sirte Mahari Hotel

Sirte (Libya) Special Envoy - What happened in the days before the fall of Sirte and the death of Colonel Qaddafi, Thursday, October 20th at the Hotel Mahari? When he returned home, the morning of Saturday, October 22, Faraj Mohammed, near the luxury hotel, found 53 bodies lying on the grass: all men, all shot dead. They were lying on the lawn that slopes gently toward the sea still dark spots indicate the locations where the bodies were. Half of the bodies had their hands tied behind his back and wore casts and bandages, indicating their status as prisoners or wounded. All appear to have been summarily executed judging wounds to the head or the neck. Who are they? Faraj Mohammed claims to have found four people, the people of Sirte, which Ezzeddine Al-Hencheri, former Minister of Gaddafi and Moftah Dabroun, an officer.

It is impossible to know with certainty the date of death without an autopsy in good standing. It dates back between 14 and 19 October, according to Peter Bouckaert, emergencies chief of the division to the NGO human rights Human Rights Watch. Mahari Hotel is located near the Quarter Number 2, where Colonel Gaddafi and the last four of his supporters were entrenched, resisting fiercely, almost all civilians who then fled the city. The rest is history. Gaddafi tried to flee on Thursday morning October 20, aboard a convoy halted by NATO. Captured by the revolutionaries, he died while being transported by ambulance to Misrata, the result of his injuries, provides the National Transitional Council (CNT), a summary execution, accusing his family. Moatassim his son, who was arrested the same day, was seen on an amateur video talking calmly with the rebels who held.

The Mahari, transformed into a place of detention by the forces of anti-Gaddafi, he witnessed a mass execution of prisoners pro-Qaddafi. The establishment was controlled by Misrata forces since the end of the first week of October, between 7 and 10. Several groups of thowar the revolutionary fighters, had made their base, as evidenced by the walls of the hotel covered with graffiti of different brigades Misrata. The Al-Nimr katiba (the tiger in Arabic) is the present, it is one of the most powerful of Misrata, which has 230. There were also present katibas Al-Fahad (the jaguar), Al-Assad (lion) and Al Qasba (the citadel).

Misrata fighters, drunk with anger at the atrocities committed during the five months of siege and shelling of their city, they would have wanted revenge. The commander of the Al-Nimr katiba denies any involvement. "The hotel has never been a place of detention. On the morning of October 20, we were attacked by Gaddafi and his forces. We had to leave the place. When we came back the next day the bodies were there." To him, they were probably killed by Gaddafi "which would prevent them from speaking." An explanation unconvincing, since the Libyan seemed especially concerned about his flight that morning. The head of the military council of Misrata, Ramadan Zarmouh, for his part said that Sirte is full of graves of revolutionary arrested or disappeared for months and calls into question the identity of victims of the hotel Mahari. "They are prisoners removed by Gaddafi before their departure," he says.

Detail worse, the staff of the hospital Ibn Sina Sirte ensures that a week before the fall of the city, the revolutionaries entered the school, locked in a room physicians, and toured the rooms to retrieve injuries alleged to have participated in the fighting to take them to an unknown destination. For fear of reprisals, no one is willing to testify openly or give a figure, even the Ukrainian pediatrician remained throughout the siege. Upstairs, the wounded also show evasive, some even refusing to disclose the nature of their injuries for fear of being identified as combatants. If this massacre is found, it will not be the first attributed to the rebels. The Gaddafi regime, he, has been used to a much more systematic and significant. Peter Bouckaert, Human Rights Watch, the murders of the Mahari Hotel "require the immediate attention of the Libyan authorities," who must conduct a survey.

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The UN mandate ends the intervention in Libya

Victory, Libya

AFP - The Security Council of the United Nations ended Thursday to warrant the use of force in Libya, seven months after the start of the intervention against the Gaddafi regime, despite calls from the transitional government of Libya for its extension. A Council resolution adopted unanimously, ends the no-fly zone and the authorization of the use of force to protect civilians, as of 11:59 p.m. (Eastern Time Jamahiriya) on October 31. For its part, NATO, which had supported the military operations, is scheduled to meet Friday in Brussels to formally declare the end of the air strikes despite calls from the new regime.

The National Transitional Council (CNT) on Wednesday urged the continuation of NATO in Libya at least "until the end of the year", ensuring that even after the death of his last loyal Muammar Gaddafi represented a threat to the country. The resolution of the Security Council reduces the international embargo on arms, so that the CNT can acquire to ensure national security. The CNT declared the "liberation" formal Libya on October 23, three days after the death of Muammar Gaddafi. The green light of the Security Council in February and March for a military exclusion zone and air strikes had divided the fifteen member countries. Russia, China, South Africa, Brazil and India have accused NATO of overstepping the mandate they were given.

The Ambassador of France to the United Nations Gerard Araud expressed "pride" of his country for taking part in the operations. "It was the liberation of Libya with the support of all countries who wanted to be part of this wonderful experience," he told reporters. But the Security Council remained divided until the end. Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said that the two resolutions had been overridden. He spoke of "number of violations" of the resolutions and said that "lessons must be learned" in the Security Council after the military strikes that lasted seven months and have been instrumental in the fall of Gaddafi. 'Let history judge, "replied Mr. Araud. U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice spoke on the same mode. The resolution "concludes that history will judge as a chapter in which the Security Council can be proud," she said.

It welcomed the "prospect of a free and participatory Libya with the participation of all people, regardless of gender and religion." "The end of the no-fly zone and provisions to protect civilians shows that Libya has entered a new era," said British Foreign Minister, William Hague in a statement welcoming the resolution as a "another important step towards a peaceful and democratic future for Libya." In its resolution, the Council reiterates the need for a transition period "oriented commitment to democracy, good governance, the practice of law, national reconciliation and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms of the people of Libya.”
Without explicit reference to vague terms of the death of Colonel Gaddafi, the Fifteen "urge the Libyan authorities to refrain from reprisals, including arbitrary detention (and) the extra-judicial executions." Click here to find out more!

Muammar Gaddafi 'buried in desert grave at dawn'

Muammar Gaddafi

The bodies of ex-Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, his son Mutassim and a top aide have been buried in secret in the desert, Libyan officials say.

A National Transitional Council (NTC) official told the BBC the bodies were buried at dawn in an unknown location.

This follows days of apparent uncertainty among the new leadership about what to do with the bodies.

Gaddafi's family wanted them buried outside the former leader's hometown of Sirte.

NTC leaders had expressed a preference for a secret burial.
Bound by Fatwa

Officials have given few details of the ceremony.

They say it took place early on Tuesday. A few relatives and officials were in attendance and Islamic prayers were read.
Libya's Minister for Information Mahmoud Shammam said the NTC was following a fatwa, or religious ruling.

"It says that his body should not be buried in Muslim cemeteries and should not be buried in a known place to avoid any sedition," Mr Shammam said.

An NTC official had earlier told Reuters news agency that Col Gaddafi would be buried in a "simple" ceremony with "sheikhs attending" on Tuesday.

"It will be an unknown location in the open desert," he said, adding that a burial was needed because decomposition of the body had reached the point where the "corpse cannot last any longer".

Gaddafi, Mutassim and former Defence Minister Abu Bakr Younis Jabr were killed on Thursday following the fall of Sirte, the last major pro-Gaddafi bastion.

Witnesses said the bodies had been removed late on Monday from the meat storage warehouse in Misrata where they had been on display.

The BBC was told prayers were said over the bodies before they were driven away.

"Our job is finished," a security guard at the warehouse, Salem al Mohandes, told the Arabic television station al-Jazeera. "[Gaddafi] was transferred and the military council of Misrata took him away to an unknown location."
Shrine fears

The BBC's Katya Adler in Tripoli says the question of how to dispose of Gaddafi's body has been a political minefield for the new Libyan leadership, and is the reason why it has taken four days for a decision to be taken.

Islamic tradition dictates a burial should happen within a day of the death.

But the NTC leadership was concerned that any public grave could become a shrine for Gaddafi loyalists or a target of hatred for those who opposed his regime, our correspondent says.

In the end, she adds, the decomposition of the body meant the NTC had to act.

Questions have been raised over the former leader's death after video footage showed him alive at the time of capture. Officials said he had been killed subsequently in a crossfire.

A post-mortem examination carried out on the 69-year-old's body on Sunday showed he had received a bullet wound to the head, medical sources said.

Acting Libyan leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil said the NTC had formed a committee to investigate the circumstances surrounding his death.

Meanwhile another of Gaddafi's sons, Saif al-Islam, remains at large. He is believed to have fled towards the desert border with Niger.

A Niger official said Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was travelling with ethnic Tuaregs - who were among Gaddafi's supporters.

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NTC fighters move in for kill in Kadhafi town

Forces of Libya's new regime were moving in for the kill against Moamer Kadhafi's diehards in his hometown on Wednesday after meeting little resistance and taking several key objectives.

A day after seizing Sirte's police headquarters, the National Transitional Council forces were still closing in from the east and west on ever smaller pockets of pro-Kadhafi forces.

Hundreds of NTC combatants in dozens of pickups fired rockets from the west of the Mediterranean city whose seizure will enable the NTC to declare the liberation of Libya and clear the way for an election timetable.

An AFP correspondent said Sirte's main square and entire waterfront were under NTC control, along with its fortress-like conference centre, university campus and main hospital, all of which the fighters seized on Sunday.

"All our lines are now in place; the area is completely surrounded," said NTC commander Zubayr Bakush.

Farther east, a group of fighters threw petrol on a billboard of Kadhafi as others cheered and fired into the air with cries of "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest) blasting from a van loudspeaker.

"There are snipers in the buildings up there," fighter Basit Divas told AFP, pointing to a neighbourhood of pock-marked villas, before hundreds of NTC troops advanced backed by a barrage of heavy weapons fire.

Within a few hours, the new regime forces had advanced another two kilometres (1.2 miles) and were meeting only small pockets of resistance, with most of the firing in one direction -- at the Kadhafi loyalists.

There was some incoming sniper fire as they blasted buildings with RPGs, machineguns and anti-aircraft guns.

NTC soldiers went house to house, clearing each, and sometimes taking prisoners.

In the kitchen of one large villa, half-finished cups of tea sat on a tray. Outside another, a man was on his knees in the courtyard, his hands tied behind his back, pleading with his captors.

"This man had a gun, and two AK-47s. We think he may be from Kadhafi's operation room," said Ayub Basina, who identified himself as an NTC doctor.

In one house, NTC forces found 15 Kalashnikovs, seven RPGs and a field radio.

A dozen black prisoners, their hands tied behind their backs, being seen being taken from one house and put aboard a pick-up.

An AFP correspondent reported a fierce firefight around a school where Kadhafi loyalists were putting up strong resistance. He saw at least six bodies and said dozens of fighters had been wounded.

NTC forces then withdrew to bombard the building with mortar fire.

The plight of stranded civilians raised the concerns of Human Rights Watch, which called on both sides to minimise harm to them and ensure that prisoners are treated humanely.

"Commanders on the ground in Sirte need to make sure that their forces protect civilians and allow them to flee the combat zone," said Fred Abrahams, special adviser at HRW.

"All prisoners should be treated humanely and transferred to the NTC authorities who can better ensure their safety," he said in a statement.

The New York-based watchdog said much of Sirte's population of around 100,000 has already fled, but that an unknown number remain.

New regime fighters in Sirte were buoyed late Tuesday by a two-hour visit from NTC chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil, and said he visited the one-time Kadhafi showpiece Ouagadougou conference centre.

The NTC forces had besieged Sirte from September 15 before launching on Friday what they termed a "final assault" that has seen at least 85 of their number killed and hundreds wounded, according to medics.

NATO warplanes, backing the NTC, overflew Sirte early on Wednesday without firing, an AFP correspondent reported, as the alliance said in its latest update that it had struck six vehicles in Bani Walid.

Outside that oasis, 170 kilometres (105 miles) southeast of Tripoli, NTC fighters are also gearing for a renewed onslaught on the other remaining bastion of forces loyal to the ousted dictator.

A withdrawal from intense fighting, in what the military called a "tactical pull back" earlier this week, enabled some civilians to flee Bani Walid on Tuesday, said an AFP reporter.

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said the alliance was close to ending its mission in Libya, but NATO "had no knowledge of the colonel's whereabouts," adding that Kadhafi "is not a target of our operation."

NTC commanders say prisoners have said one of Kadhafi's sons, Mutassim, is in Sirte.

Another, Seif al-Islam, once seen as the former strongman's successor, is believed to be hiding in Bani Walid, possibly with his father.

Meanwhile, NTC oil and finance minister Ali Tarhuni said Libya will not award any further oil contracts until a government is formed after elections.

"There are no new contracts in this transitory period for Total or for any company," he told reporters on the occasion of a visit by an 80-strong French business delegation.

"The only government that can give new concessions in oil is an elected government, and that would be after we have a constitution."

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