Gaddafi died a martyr – Libyan leader’s lawyer

Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat – Abdel Azim al-Maghribi, lawyer to former Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, told Asharq Al-Awsat that he has no confidence in the investigations being conducted into the brutal circumstances surrounding the dictator’s death, as those supervising these investigations were previously opponents of the ousted Libyan leader.  Gaddafi’s lawyer made this statement at the same time that international human rights organizations are hearing the testimony of Misrata rebels who are believed to have been involved in – or at least witnessed – the death of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

Al-Maghribi, who is also Assistant Secretary-General of the Arab Lawyers Union, said that he has no confidence in the investigations that are being conducted into the circumstances surrounding Gaddafi’s death, after he was captured alive in Sirte on 20 October by Libyan rebels.  He also stressed that “Gaddafi died a martyr.”

Gaddafi’s former lawyer claimed that the former Libyan leader died defending himself, telling Asharq Al-Awsat that “dying in defense of your life, according to Islamic Sharia law, means that you are a martyr.”  He added that the brutal treatment Gaddafi was subject to at the hands of his captors – prior to his death – may absolve the former Libyan dictator of the crimes he committed against the Libyan people.

Abdel Azim al-Maghribi, was a long-time legal adviser to the former Libyan leader, and was involved in a legal case brought by Gaddafi against a number of western media outlets and news agencies, after they published reports – in 1997 – claiming that the former Libyan leader had been subject to an assassination attempt during a visit to Cairo, something that Gaddafi and his regime strongly denied.

Al-Maghribi told Asharq Al-Awsat that despite the fact that the United Nations [UN] has called for an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Gaddafi’s death, and that Chairman of the National Transitional Council [NTC], Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, had also promised to conduct an investigation into this, he does not have any confidence that these investigations will uncover anything.  He stressed that “the majority [of those involved in these investigations] were opponents of Gaddafi, whether we are talking about the Libyan rebels or those who captured him in Sirte prior to his death.”

He added that the reception of the news of Gaddafi’s death, on the part of NATO, the US, and the international community in general, suggests that there is no genuine intention or willingness, internationally or within Libya, to operate according to the demands of the law, in this regard [investigating Gaddafi’s death]., despite the fact that Gaddafi’s death – if he was executed after capture – would represent a war crime, which according to international law, is punishable by death or life imprisonment.  Al-Maghribi also denied that he had received a request from the Gaddafi family to launch a lawsuit over the former Libyan leader’s death.

Gaddafi had been killed trying to flee Sirte on 20 October, after the Libyan rebels had surrounded the city.  Gaddafi’s convoy had come under attack by NATO forces, and the former Libyan leader, injured in the attack, was captured alive by Libyan rebels.  Footage taken on mobile phones show a dazed and confused Muammar Gaddafi being beaten and insulted by his captors, whilst the next footage show the former Libyan leader dead from what appears to be a gunshot wound to the left-side of his head.  However it is not known whether this wound was inflicted prior to capture, or whether he was executed by the Libyan rebels.

Abdel Azim al-Maghribi’s statements to Asharq Al-Awsat came two days after an NTC official in Misrata told Asharq Al-Awsat that international human rights organizations are hearing the testimony of around 10 Libyan rebels who are believed to have been present during Gaddafi’s capture and subsequent death in Sirte.