And some disturbing pictures of civilian casualties in Libya are moving French lawyers to turn against their government.
French ex-foreign minister Roland Dumas says he is ready to defend Muammar Gaddafi in the International Criminal Court, which has issued a warrant for his arrest.
But NATO will have to find the colonel first. Libya's deposed leader is in hiding, for good reason.
“If they find him they'll kill him. Like Bin Laden,” Dumas said. “Some states are now claiming the right to kill, against all international law.”
Nicolas Sarkozy faces lawsuits over ordinary people killed in the war in Libya. Lawyers in France now accuse the president of committing crimes against humanity.
Jacques Verges calls the Libyan war a new Vietnam, where the US sprayed tens of millions of liters of toxins on crops in the 60s and 70s, causing brain disorders, miscarriages and birth defects to this day.
“They are using missiles with depleted uranium, which cause cancer,” he claimed. “In Tripoli I saw people crippled by NATO attacks – office workers who have nothing to do with the fighting. That is why we are suing President Sarkozy for crimes against humanity.”
NATO first denied bombing the residence where 13 civilians, including four children, died. It then called the place a military command center. Journalist Michel Colon went to see what it really housed.
“Books, videos, Spiderman toys, cultural books, nothing military,” were what he saw there.
In another attack, Khaled El Awidi's wife, child and grandchildren were reportedly killed in their home. NATO is accused of deliberately waging a campaign of terror.
“Their bombings targeted the electricity, water and food supply,” Awidi's lawyer, Marcel Ceccaldi said. “After five months of daily NATO bombs and thousands of deaths, people will stop supporting the regime, because they just can't take it anymore.”
Western leaders are poised for their first serious legal challenge over Libya. If they stop the cases coming to court altogether, adds Ceccaldi, it will prove once and for all that Western justice really is run by the politicians, not the rule of law.
Tue Sep 20, 2011 at 10:25 PM PT:
Tue Sep 20, 2011 at 10:26 PM PT: Civilian deaths in Libya: who’s killing who?
Tue Sep 20, 2011 at 10:28 PM PT: He is right: civilians are still being killed. But now that Gaddafi is virtually powerless, the people increasingly doing the killing are National Transitional Council forces, together with NATO, as they attack Bani Walid and other Gaddafi strongholds.
On that, Cameron and Sarkozy are silent.
“To paraphrase George Orwell in ‘Animal Farm,’ some civilians are more equal than others,” remarks John Laughland from the Institute of Democracy and Cooperation.
NATO insist their attacks are targeted, but there are reports of NTC reprisals against presumed Gaddafi supporters.
“Clearly there are real problems on the ground. There is a legacy of such a conflict that you will have human rights abuses taking part on both sides. The National Transitional Council have promised to hold their own fighters to account and I think that is a process we will see from now,” believes Middle East analyst James Denselow.
But it does not seem to be happening yet. The African Union alleges that transitional forces are hunting down and killing black Africans on the assumption that Gaddafi recruited them as mercenaries.
These allegations are borne out by an Amnesty International report which says the rebels are guilty of unlawful killings and torture. It is at pains to point out that Gaddafi’s forces committed terrible atrocities, but also documents a brutal settling of scores by rebel forces, including the lynching of Gaddafi’s soldiers.
Meanwhile, the colonel’s hometown is one of the last cities holding out against rebel and NATO forces. A letter – purportedly from Gaddafi himself – begs the UN Security Council to protect Sirte from being pounded by NATO, and to tackle what it describes as crimes by the forces of the new government. Civilian deaths appear inevitable.
Cameron and Sarkozy were quick to condemn Gaddafi for killing innocent Libyans in the lead-up to the imposition of NATO’s no-fly zone. But no such rhetoric is being aimed at the NTC.
Moreover, Britain has sponsored a draft UN resolution to ease sanctions against Libya and against Libya’s National Oil Corporation in particular, in a bid to get the oil flowing again.
Tue Sep 20, 2011 at 10:36 PM PT:
Tue Sep 20, 2011 at 10:37 PM PT: Silence and fear return to the streets of Tripoli
Tue Sep 20, 2011 at 10:38 PM PT: A month on from Tripoli’s fall to rebel forces, the leaders of France and Britain are traveling to the city in a show of support for the regime their warplanes helped put in power, while those who backed Colonel Gaddafi remain defiant but fearful.
On the eve of the visit of French President Nicholas Sarkozy and British PM David Cameron, the head of the National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, has asked for more weapons to fight pockets of Colonel Gaddafi's loyalists and remove them from their remaining strongholds.
The rebel government thinks the ousted dictator is hiding in southern Libya and planning a fight-back.
However, the new authority is asserting an increasing level of control over the country.
For some, that is cause for celebration – but many others are reserved in their optimism.
In parts of Tripoli it feels as if the rebels’ triumphant campaign never happened, or did so elsewhere, in some parallel version of the Libyan capital.
“We will do anything for Muammar, only Muammar! Even if we give our life for that!” claims one street vendor, while hiding her face from RT’s camera.
In today’s Tripoli, it is becoming a commonplace to meet people who are afraid of speaking openly to journalists as RT’s team discovered on the streets of the city. This is how one encounter went:
“All people here love MuammarGaddafi.”
“We are from television – could you tell us that on camera?”
“No, no.”
“Why?”
“This is dangerous…”
And it was the same story with others who fervently support the ousted Libyan leader.
“Gaddafi is 100 per cent good!”
“We don’t want this revolution, we don’t know the rebels.”
“We want them to go away.”
“Could you talk on camera? We are from TV.”
“No, no, no thanks, if I appear in front of the camera, they will send a bullet to my head…”
“Who? Who?”
“Who? The criminals! You don’t know them? You call them the rebels!”
“Hey guys, do you remember Ehab, the black guy, he was arrested few days ago, after he appeared on TV… don’t do that!”
Those calling themselves rebels are once again celebrating on Martyrs’ Square in downtown Tripoli. This time, they are welcoming Libya’s new government to the capital.
The head of the National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, spoke before large crowds, leaving Libyans in no doubt about who is now in charge.
But while the NTC leader was giving his speech, most of Tripoli’s population preferred to stay close to their businesses and homes.
Those who do not support Mustafa Abdul Jalil and could be seen all across the city proudly waving green flags just weeks ago backing Gaddafi, are now reluctant to leave their own backyards.
“They are afraid because if they go out they will die instantly because there are many people with weapons and guns,” one man, who was afraid to speak on camera, told RT.
With Gaddafi effectively gone, the new authorities have settled down here in the capital, Tripoli. People are chanting that Libya is now a new free country. But it seems there is at least one thing that still remains – fear.
We finally found one young man – Ahmed – brave enough to talk to RT’s crew. This is what he had to say:
“Tripoli is now under the control of the National Transitional Council and we don’t feel we have freedom to talk or to express our opinions. If we say something in favor of Gaddafi they can kill us or arrest us. Of course, many are in fear.”
The 19-year-old says many of his friends have been arrested recently for making statements critical of the new regime. Ironically, we were talking just a kilometer away from one of Gaddafi’s top secret jails for political prisoners known as Abu Sleem.
“The rebels, they only represent themselves – not the Libyan people. This revolution started with killings to intimidate through fear. Their hands are all covered in blood,” Ahmed said.
Amnesty International has recently accused both Gaddafi's regime and the one which replaced it of committing war crimes, including killings and torture of soldiers, prisoners and civilians.
Here in the Libyan capital, there is widespread fear that more is in store.