A very rough translation:
The colonel liked to be surrounded by a 100% female guard, clad in military attire and toting Kalashnikovs. After his fall, the testimony of several of these women reveals the terrifying reality behind the facade.
They were nicknamed the "Amazons" by Gaddafi. The bodyguards, who surrounded the Libyan leader on all of his travels, aroused astonishment and questions: were they a ceremonial "gimmick," or the umpteenth indication of his pronounced penchant for provocation, or a harem? Owing to the fall of the colonel, several of these women have broken their silence, and their testimony confirms, in a sinister way, the third hypothesis. Forced to enlist, menaced, they speak of having been raped by the "Guide," who then "divvied" them out to his sons and his officers.
Up to 400 young women- 40 at a time- have served as bodyguards for Gaddafi, all graduates of a military academy for women which he founded in Tripoli in 1983. A psychologist based in Benghazi has collected the testimony of five of these women, details of which were reported by the Times of Malta. One recounted having been forced to enlist as a "bodyguard" for the colonel by threats of having her father thrown in prison if she refused. Taken away to Bab Aziziya, the personal residence of the dictator in Tripoli, she was marched to the private quarters of the colonel himself and then raped. Not content with having abused them, the women affirm that Muammar Gaddafi would then hand them over to his sons, or senior members of his entourage, who would, in turn, violate them.
Forced to execute rebel prisoners
The American network CNN has itself obtained the testimony of a young woman who says she was forcibly conscripted by the colonel. Nisreen, barely 19 years old today, recounts how she was carried off from her family a year ago by an officer from Bab Aziziya. Trained in the use of weapons, she was cut off from all contact with her family. She asserts that after the rebellion broke loose in Libya she was forced to execute insurgent prisoners, eleven in total. They brought them to me one by one, saying, " kill them (. . . ), if you do not then we will kill you."
These accounts could strengthen an eventual trial of the dictator- if he is captured- before the International Criminal Court. They add to the other monstrosities attributed to the Gaddafi regime. This week, the nanny of the grandchildren of the dictator was discovered in Tripoli bearing the scars on her body of an atrocious torture. On a larger scale, the regime is accused of having utilized rape as a weapon during this six month old conflict. The case of Iman al-Abadi, a civilian who claims to have been raped by the colonel's militiamen, has brought this practice to light. As a result, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court himself affirmed that Ms. al-Abadi's information constitutes evidence that Gaddafi had decided to punish the population through the utilization of rape. For this purpose, states Luis Moreno-Ocampo, whole containers of Viagra had been shipped by the regime, bound for its soldiers. If they are brought before international justice, these acts could qualify as crimes against humanity.
The colonel liked to be surrounded by a 100% female guard, clad in military attire and toting Kalashnikovs. After his fall, the testimony of several of these women reveals the terrifying reality behind the facade.
They were nicknamed the "Amazons" by Gaddafi. The bodyguards, who surrounded the Libyan leader on all of his travels, aroused astonishment and questions: were they a ceremonial "gimmick," or the umpteenth indication of his pronounced penchant for provocation, or a harem? Owing to the fall of the colonel, several of these women have broken their silence, and their testimony confirms, in a sinister way, the third hypothesis. Forced to enlist, menaced, they speak of having been raped by the "Guide," who then "divvied" them out to his sons and his officers.
Up to 400 young women- 40 at a time- have served as bodyguards for Gaddafi, all graduates of a military academy for women which he founded in Tripoli in 1983. A psychologist based in Benghazi has collected the testimony of five of these women, details of which were reported by the Times of Malta. One recounted having been forced to enlist as a "bodyguard" for the colonel by threats of having her father thrown in prison if she refused. Taken away to Bab Aziziya, the personal residence of the dictator in Tripoli, she was marched to the private quarters of the colonel himself and then raped. Not content with having abused them, the women affirm that Muammar Gaddafi would then hand them over to his sons, or senior members of his entourage, who would, in turn, violate them.
Forced to execute rebel prisoners
The American network CNN has itself obtained the testimony of a young woman who says she was forcibly conscripted by the colonel. Nisreen, barely 19 years old today, recounts how she was carried off from her family a year ago by an officer from Bab Aziziya. Trained in the use of weapons, she was cut off from all contact with her family. She asserts that after the rebellion broke loose in Libya she was forced to execute insurgent prisoners, eleven in total. They brought them to me one by one, saying, " kill them (. . . ), if you do not then we will kill you."
These accounts could strengthen an eventual trial of the dictator- if he is captured- before the International Criminal Court. They add to the other monstrosities attributed to the Gaddafi regime. This week, the nanny of the grandchildren of the dictator was discovered in Tripoli bearing the scars on her body of an atrocious torture. On a larger scale, the regime is accused of having utilized rape as a weapon during this six month old conflict. The case of Iman al-Abadi, a civilian who claims to have been raped by the colonel's militiamen, has brought this practice to light. As a result, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court himself affirmed that Ms. al-Abadi's information constitutes evidence that Gaddafi had decided to punish the population through the utilization of rape. For this purpose, states Luis Moreno-Ocampo, whole containers of Viagra had been shipped by the regime, bound for its soldiers. If they are brought before international justice, these acts could qualify as crimes against humanity.
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| Gaddafi and his Amazons. |
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