The body of Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi lies on a mattress in a commercial freezer at a shopping center in Misrata, Libya, Friday, Oct. 21. The burial of slain leader Moammar Gadhafi has been delayed until the circumstances of his death can be further examined and a decision is made about where to bury the body, Libyan officials said Friday, as the U.N. human rights office called for an investigation into his death. (AP Photo)
Tripoli/Sirte, October 21 (BBC): Col Gaddafi’s burial has been delayed by differences among officials about what should be done with the body. Under Islamic tradition burial should have taken place as soon as possible. But Libya’s oil minister said the remains may be kept “for a few days”. It is unclear whether the ex-leader will be buried in Sirte, where he was captured on Thursday, in Misrata where the body has been taken, or elsewhere.
Meanwhile Nato is expected to declare an end to its Libya campaign. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the death of Muammar Gaddafi meant Nato’s military intervention had reached its conclusion. “Clearly the operation is coming to its end,” he told reporters.
According to Muslim tradition every effort should be made to bury a body within 24 hours. So the initial expectation was that after Friday prayers, the bodies of Muammar Gaddafi and his son Mutassim, would have been buried, perhaps in an unmarked grave, somewhere in the vicinity of this town. But there has developed a row among the transitional authorities, many of whom think it would be wrong and difficult to create a shrine for Gaddafi supporters.
At the moment no-one knows when the Gaddafis are going to be buried, where they will be buried - here in Misrata, or for example in his hometown of Sirte - or how that is going to happen. So as we speak, the Gaddafis are in a cold-storage container, and there is something of a disagreement over how to progress from here.
The BBC’s Caroline Hawley in Tripoli says the authorities now have to decide how to deal with Col Gaddafi’s death and in particular his burial.
They have said they will conduct a secret burial and there is some speculation that they might even try to bury him at sea, as happened with al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, to prevent any grave being turned into a shrine, she adds.
Oil Minister Ali Tarhouni told Reuters news agency that Col Gaddafi’s body was not going to be released from a morgue in Misrata for immediate burial. “I told them to keep it in the freezer for a few days... to make sure that everybody knows he is dead,” he said. Asked about the burial arrangements, he said: “There is no decision yet.”
Our correspondent says the National Transitional Council (NTC) needs to co-ordinate with the fighters who captured him in his hometown of Sirte and who have taken him to Misrata, where his bullet-ridden body is now lying in cold storage. Reuters news agency quotes senior NTC commander Abdel Majid Mlegta as saying members of the colonel’s tribe are in contact with anti-Gaddafi fighters to discuss the possibility of taking on the task of burying him.
Meanwhile, questions are mounting as to exactly what happened in Col Gaddafi’s last moments following his capture. Acting Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril said Col Gaddafi had been shot in the head in an exchange of fire between Gaddafi loyalists and NTC fighters following his capture in his hometown of Sirte. Video footage suggests he was dragged through the streets.
An NTC fighter told the BBC he found the former Libyan leader hiding in a drainage pipe and he had begged him not to shoot.
Misrata’s chief forensic doctor, Othman al-Zintani, told to al-Arabiya TV that full autopsies would be carried out on the bodies of Col Gaddafi and his son Mutassim - who was also killed in Sirte on Thursday. The process could take from few hours to a full day, he said.
Senior NTC member Mohammed Sayeh told the BBC he doubted that the colonel was deliberately killed, but added: “Even if he was killed intentionally, I think he deserves this.” He added: “If they kill him 1,000 times, I think it will not pay back the Libyans what he has done.”
U.N. rights office urges probe into Qadhafi death
GENEVA, October 21 (AP): The U.N. human rights office called on Friday for an investigation into the death of ousted Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi, who was captured alive by rebel forces in his hometown of Sirte before shaky amateur footage showed fighters standing over his bloodied body.
“We believe there is a need for an investigation,” said Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. “More details are needed to ascertain whether he was killed in some form of fighting or was executed after his capture.” “The two cell phone videos that have emerged, one of him alive, and one of him dead, taken together are very disturbing,” he told reporters in Geneva.
A Libyan official said on Friday that the burial of Qadhafi has been delayed until his death can be examined by the International Criminal Court though it was not immediately clear if he was referring to a look at the dictator’s body or a probe into what led to his death.
The U.N. Human Rights Council established an independent panel earlier this year to investigate abuses in Libya, and Mr. Colville said it would likely examine the circumstances of the 69-year-old leader’s death.
He said it was too early to say whether the panel which includes Canadian judge Philippe Kirsch, the first president of the International Criminal Court would recommend a formal investigation at the national or international level.
“The dust hasn’t settled yet,” Mr. Colville told The Associated Press when asked if Libya was capable of conducting an independent probe into the death.
“You can’t just chuck the law out of the window,” he added. “Killing someone outside a judicial procedure, even in countries where there is the death penalty, is outside the rule of law.”
Mr. Colville said the victims of Qadhafi’s despotic 42-year-rule deserved to see proper judicial procedures followed and perpetrators of abuses brought to trial, a process he said could be “cathartic” for the new Libya.
“Of course there are many others apart from Col. Qadhafi, so there may at least be some kind of court proceedings where we do all learn what happened and who is responsible,” he said.
