Debate of the Week: Revenge On Gaddafi, In Cold Blood
Libyans with medical masks wait in line to visit Muammar Gaddafi dead body in Misurata, Libya, 22 October 2011. Source: http://vosizneias.com
Following the recent death of Gaddafi, 42-year leader of Libya, his body was left on display in a cold meat store in a shopping centre in Misratah for children and adults alike to go and view. The debate of the week hopes to tackle the question of whether it’s right for a corpse to be treated in this way; no matter what actions it had committed in its living form.
Facemasks were handed out to visitors to ward off the stench of Gaddafi’s decaying body as he lay dead on a bloodied mattress. Visitors equipped with camera phones posed next to the dictator’s body where this exhibition resembled the scenes of a tourist attraction. Does it concern you that this display goes against the values that should uphold society? Do you think that it is acceptable that children as young as 8 went to witness the Colonel’s decomposing corpse? Is this a sight that we should be protecting Libya’s children and adults alike from ever seeing? Shouldn’t human rights apply even when we cease to live, notably Article 5 of the universal declaration: freedom from degrading treatment?
Image Courtesy of http://www.buzzfeed.com/gavon/gaddafis-body-on-display-in-a-morgue
On the other hand, thousands of Libyans have had to suffer under Gaddafi’s dictatorship. Take the terrors of the killings and torturing that happened to political prisoners in the Abu Salim prison in Tripoli highlighted by BBC’s Panaroma this week. Footage shows that more than 1,200 inmates were slaughtered one day in 1996 in Gaddafi’s Libya under the command of Moussa Koussa, Chief of Spies at the time. Does being able to go and view his dead body offer some kind of condolence for those that lost so many loved ones? Does it provide a consolation for the freedom so many citizens have been deprived of under Gaddafi rule? A Libyan citizen, Salem Shaka, who went to view the dictator’s body argued, “God made the pharaoh as an example to the others. If he had been a good man, we would have buried him. But he chose this destiny for himself.”
Whatever your stance, due to unease of the National Transitional Council surrounding the issue, Gaddafi’s body has now been moved to a secret location to be buried. The corpses of his son and the former army chief were also on display alongside Gaddafi.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
In social sciences, it is said that people turn out to be how they are treated. Self-fulfilling profecsy is well documented as a known phenomenon. Gaddafi not only treated the honourable Libyan people as if they were rats, he also prounced them as such, so audaciously. Still they refused to turn into rats, even as they got hold of Gaddafi. Desplaying his corps in public is not unheard of as punishment. In the Islam shariah as in other man-made law, many a sentence is to be executed in public. The Holy Quran, which is the word of Allah prescribes that: "5|33|The only reward of those who make war upon Allah and His messenger and strive after corruption in the land will be that they will be killed or crucified, or have their hands and feet on alternate sides cut off, or will be expelled out of the land. Such will be degradation in the world, and in the Hereafter theirs will be an awful doom". Had the honourable Libyan people turned into rodents, contrary to how the despot Gaddafi declared and treated them like, for over four decades, they would have eaten his flesh dead or alive. I would have if I were a Libyan.
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I am a firm believer in judging things by the facts and outcomes. Fact is that Gaddaffi was arrested and executed in cold blood. That may have been a blunder or a one-off, owed to emotions that overcame his captors. So we can excuse that one as an exceptional incident. But then the government steps in, the ruling NTC, and follows through with public exposure of the corpse. Which leaves me thinking... What is a new Libya? A Libya free from oppression and injustice? To answer this question I would first ask "what kind of oppression and injustice are we talking about?" If we are referring to the end of the Gaddaffi era, then yes, this is a new Libya. If we are talking about freedom of religion, the right to equality, the emancipation of women, the end of favoratism, the end of tribal law, the upholding of justice on tenets of human rights as drafted by the UN, then no, Libya is very much the same as it used to be. It may have changed clothes but the psyche is still bound.
excellent reply Nick.
Totally, it appears it's not only the change of their leader but for 'New Libya' to really prevail it must also be a change of social norms. Thanks Nick, excellent comments.
Charlie- I can't help but agree with what you said. It seems that this situation has been treated in a manner that Gaddafi himself would have, which begs to ask the question if this really is a New Libya. I certainly hope that this incident move as closure and they move onwards and upwards. Simon- I think it's important that you note the point that this was ultimately a decision that was made: the pros and cons outweighed. Let's hope that this can be an example to every other leader treating their citizens inhumanely; one that never has to be repeated again. Any more thoughts? Would love to hear from someone that is actually in favour of the display of his body.
One can only imagine the mixture of emotions that are evoked by seeing Gaddafi's body on display. There certainly seemed to be some confusion among the NTC ranks about how to deal with the body of Gaddafi but the decision to put the corpse on display is certainly a powerful statement to the region and the world from a country struggling into a new existence. Right or wrong I can empathise with the desire to make Gaddafi's demise open and public and gain some sort of closure. The NTC said that Libya would not be free until Gaddafi was captured or dead. Seeing his bloodied corpse is a brutal yet definitive end to a bloody conflict. Let's hope that his death and burial provide the milestone that Libya needs to move on.
The anguish of the Libyan population was taken out on the man responsible for their torment and, thus, it is hard to argue that he did not have it coming. It is also hard, putting yourself in the position of a Libyan, to say that you would not have been so overcome with rage that you would have done the same. That being said I think that it's wrong to treat the situation in a manner that Gaddafi himself would have. Public humiliation, torture, inhumane, cold-blooded, excited by pain. Is it possible execute a man in a way that he would have applauded and think that you are in any way different from him? It is such a thin line, and even if a public execution was necessary - it could have been done in a more clinical manner at least. My thoughts are still jumbled on the matter because it's such a huge moment in history that has been very difficult to watch - let alone "rejoice". I really would love to see what other readers have to say...
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