'53 Gaddafi supporters found executed in Sirte'

[News_Editor]

'53 Gaddafi supporters found executed in Sirte'

2011-10-25 00:37:21 GMT+7 (ICT)

SIRTE (BNO NEWS) -- The bodies of more than 50 people who are believed to have been supporters of ousted Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi were found at a hotel in Sirte last week, Human Rights Watch reported on Monday.

The 53 decomposing bodies were found in the garden of the Mahari Hotel in Sirte on Friday, a day after Gaddafi was captured near Sirte and eventually killed. But the decomposing state of the bodies indicates the group was killed about a week earlier, between October 14 and October 19.

"We found 53 decomposing bodies, apparently Gaddafi supporters, at an abandoned hotel in Sirte, and some had their hands bound behind their backs when they were shot," said Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights Watch, who investigated the killings. "This requires the immediate attention of the Libyan authorities to investigate what happened and hold accountable those responsible."

Human Rights Watch saw the remains on Sunday when nearly two dozen residents were putting the bodies in body bags and preparing them for burial. The investigators said the bloodstains on the grass directly below the bodies, bullet holes visible in the ground, and the spent cartridges of AK-47 and FN-1 rifles scattered around the site suggest that some, if not all of the people, were shot at the location.

At least some of those killed were known Gaddafi supporters. One of them was Gaddafi government official Ezzidin al-Hinsheri while another was identified as military officer Muftah Dabroun. Most of those killed were believed to be residents of Sirte, Gaddafi's hometown.

Human Rights Watch said the hotel had been in the hands of anti-Gaddafi fighters since before the killing until fighting stopped on Thursday. "The evidence suggests that some of the victims were shot while being held as prisoners, when that part of Sirte was controlled by anti-Gaddafi brigades who appear to act outside the control of the National Transitional Council (NTC)," Bouckaert said. "If the NTC fails to investigate this crime it will signal that those who fought against Gaddafi can do anything without fear of prosecution."

He added: "This latest massacre seems part of a trend of killings, looting, and other abuses committed by armed anti-Gaddafi fighters who consider themselves above the law. It is imperative that the transitional authorities take action to rein in these groups."

Meanwhile, at a different site in Sirte, Human Rights Watch saw the badly decomposed bodies of 10 people who had apparently also been executed. Their identities are unknown and Human Rights Watch was unable to determine whether anti-Gaddafi or pro-Gaddafi forces were responsible, although medical officials in Sirte said pro-Gaddafi forces had also carried out executions.

Libya has been engulfed in a civil war since an uprising against Muammar Gaddafi's regime began in mid-February, while pro-Gaddafi forces were accused of violently cracking down on anti-government protesters. It led to UN Security Council Resolution 1973 which authorized member states to impose a no-fly zone over the North African country and to take 'all necessary measures' to protect civilians, including airstrikes.

Gaddafi was captured on Thursday morning by fighters supporting Libya's transitional government as he tried to flee his hometown Sirte. He was eventually shot dead but it remains unclear whether he was executed by his captors or if he was killed during fighting between pro-Gaddafi and anti-Gaddafi forces.

On Saturday, a review of newly released video showed how an unidentified man sodomized Gaddafi with an object before he was eventually killed. The video was released by the website the Global Post, which obtained the footage from rebel fighters.

It is believed more than 25,000 people have been killed during the civil war.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-10-25

[flying]

"We found 53 decomposing bodies, apparently Gaddafi supporters, at an abandoned hotel in Sirte, and some had their hands bound behind their backs when they were shot," said Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights Watch, who investigated the killings. "This requires the immediate attention of the Libyan authorities to investigate what happened and hold accountable those responsible."

Let those who paved the way for this new puppet regime stand with them now.

[geriatrickid]

"We found 53 decomposing bodies, apparently Gaddafi supporters, at an abandoned hotel in Sirte, and some had their hands bound behind their backs when they were shot," said Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights Watch, who investigated the killings. "This requires the immediate attention of the Libyan authorities to investigate what happened and hold accountable those responsible."

Let those who paved the way for this new puppet regime stand with them now.

Well, then, you'll need to go have a word with the Arab countries that strongly supported the regime change.

I think you'll find that none of the locals really cares. Atrocities to the western eye, but justice in the eyes of Arabs.

Be respectful of their cultural practices please.

[flying]

Be respectful of their cultural practices please.

That is rich considering the source

[softgeorge]

"We found 53 decomposing bodies, apparently Gaddafi supporters, at an abandoned hotel in Sirte, and some had their hands bound behind their backs when they were shot," said Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights Watch, who investigated the killings. "This requires the immediate attention of the Libyan authorities to investigate what happened and hold accountable those responsible."

Let those who paved the way for this new puppet regime stand with them now.

Makes you wonder which regime is/was worst. Gaddafi or these people dishing out thier own justice wthout trial. People may just starting wishing that gaddafi was back. Oh well they made thier bed so lay in it.

[Chonburiram]

...Atrocities to the western eye, but justice in the eyes of Arabs.

Be respectful of their cultural practices please.

?

[geriatrickid]

...Atrocities to the western eye, but justice in the eyes of Arabs.

Be respectful of their cultural practices please.

?

There are hundreds of thousands of Libyans that suffered under Ghadaffi and whose relatives went missing. There were no bodies returned for burials etc.The people murdered were active supporters of the regime. We may be disgusted by the massacre but, the act for the purpose of long term peace was expedient. It is highly unlikely that these most fervent of regime supporters would have laid down their arms.

In Iraq, Western forces took prisoners and then released the prisoners only to have the very same prisoners reappear as hostile combatants. The local Libyans know what they are dealing with. That is why neither the Ghadaffi regime and to a lesser extent the rebels were interested in the western concept of prisoners. Holding POWs has never been much of a practice in the region. During the Ottoman rule, the Turks would massacre the arab prisoners and the arabs would do the same. During the arab uprisings of the the last century, prisoners were usually killed. The Iran Iraq conflict saw thousands of prisoners killed. The only country that practiced the concept of POWS was Israel as demonstrated in the 1956 and 1967 wars.

I too abhor the murder of prisoners and in a perfect world would have preferred there to be trials. Unfortunately, it is difficult to force this concept on people that have suffered under repressive regimes. One saw similar events in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Rwanda and Burundi. Closer to home, similar events occurred with the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge. It's wrong, but war and violence is wrong as well.

[flying]

It's wrong, but ............

Situational ethics are wrong period.

[Mossfinn]

King Henry ordered that all French prisoners be put to the sword - an order his knights were reluctant to follow as, if kept alive, these prisoners could bring a healthy ransom:

"When the King of England perceived them coming thus he caused it to be published that every one that had a prisoner should immediately kill him, which those who had any were unwilling to do, for they expected to get great ransoms for them. But when the King was informed of this he appointed a gentleman with two hundred archers whom he commanded to go through the host and kill all the prisoners, whoever they might be. This esquire, without delay or objection, fulfilled the command of his sovereign lord, which was a most pitiable thing, for in cold blood all the nobility of France was beheaded and inhumanly cut to pieces, and all through this accursed company, a sorry set compared with the noble captive chivalry, who when they saw that the English were ready to receive them, all immediately turned and fled, each to save his own life. Many of the cavalry escaped; but of those on foot there were many among the dead."

Link

[Exsexyman]

...Atrocities to the western eye, but justice in the eyes of Arabs.

Be respectful of their cultural practices please.

?

There are hundreds of thousands of Libyans that suffered under Ghadaffi and whose relatives went missing. There were no bodies returned for burials etc.The people murdered were active supporters of the regime. We may be disgusted by the massacre but, the act for the purpose of long term peace was expedient. It is highly unlikely that these most fervent of regime supporters would have laid down their arms.

In Iraq, Western forces took prisoners and then released the prisoners only to have the very same prisoners reappear as hostile combatants. The local Libyans know what they are dealing with. That is why neither the Ghadaffi regime and to a lesser extent the rebels were interested in the western concept of prisoners. Holding POWs has never been much of a practice in the region. During the Ottoman rule, the Turks would massacre the arab prisoners and the arabs would do the same. During the arab uprisings of the the last century, prisoners were usually killed. The Iran Iraq conflict saw thousands of prisoners killed. The only country that practiced the concept of POWS was Israel as demonstrated in the 1956 and 1967 wars.

I too abhor the murder of prisoners and in a perfect world would have preferred there to be trials. Unfortunately, it is difficult to force this concept on people that have suffered under repressive regimes. One saw similar events in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Rwanda and Burundi. Closer to home, similar events occurred with the overthrow of the Khmer Rouge. It's wrong, but war and violence is wrong as well.

But you don't abhor the murder of prisoners [not arab ones anyway) do you. Your thread is an attempt to justify it. Hundreds of thousands of relatives of Ghaddifi opponents missing never to be seen again? Where is your evidence for this? There is none. You mean like the rebels finding a mass grave in Misrata the other week, and when they were pushed for evidence the only thing they could produce were a load of camel bones. No doubt you think that Ghaddafi tortured himself, then sodomised himself with a piece of four by two and then shot himself! The fifty found with their hands tied and then executed is the tip of the iceberg. For weeks reports have been coming in of black Libyans in Sirte being tortured and summarily executed. At least one hundred thousand of them in Sirte and now none to be seen, where are they? Now reports today that American special forces and the SAS are on the ground desperately trying to stop Said Ghaddafi from escaping over the border. Do you think they will take him alive and put him on trial? I don't think so, he is the only one left who can spill the beans on western politicians and their cronies doing their deals with this "vile" regime for the past 40 odd years. The day before Ghaddafi was captured Hilary Clinton openly called for him to be killed. And as for Barack Obama of all people hailing what amounted to the torture and public lynching, words fail me. What an Uncle Tom he's turned out to be.

Now the Libyans will have Sharia law and all that entails thanks to NATO. The new bosses in Libya are a bunch of clueless Al Qaida and Muslim Brotherhood Islamists with a mixture of various tribes thrown in to the mix, installed by the West. Well done NATO! I recommend checking out American 4 star general Wesley Clark on youtube, giving a lecture in California in 2007, where he explains the Pentagon policy of America attacking and overthrowing the governments of seven countries in five years. Libya was one of them. This Libyan adventure was never about protecting civilians, surely anyone who still believes that must be terminally naive.

[softgeorge]

King Henry ordered that all French prisoners be put to the sword - an order his knights were reluctant to follow as, if kept alive, these prisoners could bring a healthy ransom:

"When the King of England perceived them coming thus he caused it to be published that every one that had a prisoner should immediately kill him, which those who had any were unwilling to do, for they expected to get great ransoms for them. But when the King was informed of this he appointed a gentleman with two hundred archers whom he commanded to go through the host and kill all the prisoners, whoever they might be. This esquire, without delay or objection, fulfilled the command of his sovereign lord, which was a most pitiable thing, for in cold blood all the nobility of France was beheaded and inhumanly cut to pieces, and all through this accursed company, a sorry set compared with the noble captive chivalry, who when they saw that the English were ready to receive them, all immediately turned and fled, each to save his own life. Many of the cavalry escaped; but of those on foot there were many among the dead."

Link

I thought that mentioning Monarchy in anything but favourable light was totally against th rules. Treading on very thin ice I think.

[Ulysses G.]

Well, you were wrong. There is no rule about the monarchy abroad.

[chooka]

Well, you were wrong. There is no rule about the monarchy abroad.

That's great news so I am free to bag the <deleted> out of the Queen of Australia and her family.

[Scott]

Actually, you are not, under Thai law, allowed to trash the monarchy of other countries. However, the internet police seem to be less interested in the subject, but at a minimum a discussion would be off-topic on this thread.

[geriatrickid]

Well, you were wrong. There is no rule about the monarchy abroad.

That's great news so I am free to bag the <deleted> out of the Queen of Australia and her family.

I thought Priscilla Queen of The Desert was good fun.