Libya: The Truth About Gaddafi's Death

This post is part of our special coverage Libya Uprising 2011.

For 42 years, Muammar Gaddafi ruled Libya with an iron first. Over the years, he crushed opposition, obliterated dissent at home and ruled from Tripoli as the uncontested King of Kings of Africa.

On February 16, 2011, Libyans started revolting against his dictatorship. Two months ago, the capital Tripoli was freed, and today, Libya breaks out in celebration as Gaddafi's stronghold Sirte falls and the man himself is either captured and killed or killed and captured. The circumstances surrounding his death are still dubious, the details contradictory and the information sketchy.

On Twitter, journalists and pundits try to reconstruct his death circumstances.

Free Misrata posts this video on YouTube, showing a living Gaddafi, surrounded by many excited freedom fighters:

Al Jazeera's Evan Hill asks:

@evanchill: So if NTC fighters killed Gaddafi after capturing him alive, what is your reaction?

And also questions Gaddafi's injuries later paraded on our television screens:

@evanchill: The Gaddafi head wound may have been blunt trauma from getting struck, and not a gunshot. Very hard to tell.

Foreign Policy's Blake Hounshell also has a lot of questions. Here, he asks:

@blakehounshell: Execution? RT @halibrahim: A better image of #Gadhafi's body which shows the bullet in his head #Libya

And then explains:

@blakehounshell: That new video I just posted clearly shows an ambulance nearby; doesn't show execution if there was one

And he asks again:

@blakehounshell: So, is there any footage out there of Qaddafi being shot in the head?

CNN's Hala Gorani also has questions, among them:

@HalaGorani: Was Gaddafi captured wounded and alive and then executed or did he die of his wounds? Unclear based on videos we've seen so far. #Libya

On Twitter, many have also reacted to parading Gaddafi's dead body across television screens.

iRevolt or Roqayah notes:

@iRevolt: It's one thing to feel elated at the ousting, removal, etc. of a dictator; turning death into a corpse-whoring party is another.

And Egyptian Mosa'ab Elshamy comments:

@mosaaberizing: Idealistic people, especially Arabs, who can't bear to see the corpse of one of the region's most despised tyrants, snap the **** out of it.

This post is part of our special coverage Libya Uprising 2011.

4 comments

  • imd123

    these are all lies
    and no real muslim would kill anyone like that
    and these rebels are imperialist power financed there are no rebels to gaddhafi.

  • What is happening in the world is because of the frustration of the majority community of that country. It should be a great lesson to every politician, especially those who are in power. Tolerance has its own limit.

  • Khaddfi was a good man

    Rahul you are wrong. IMD123 is completly right. The rebels was financed by the globalists, Khaddafi wanted a gold standard which meant he had to die.

    It’s sad, he was one of the good men left in charge.

    FYI he didn’t give his parents housing until he housed all libyans. So sad what happened, and people don’t know shit about the truth… DON’T GET ALL YOUR INFO FROM MAINSTREAM MEDIA! ITS ALL CORRUPT AND OWNED BY THE SAME PEOPLE!

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