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Subscribe to RSSOusted Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi was shown no mercy and brutally killed by the same people he ruled over for more than 40 years. Graphic pictures and videos captured his final moments. NBC's Richard Engel reports.
The slaying of former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, who was captured and killed by rebels in October, may have been a war crime, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said late Thursday.
"I think the way in which Mr Gadhafi was killed creates suspicions of ... war crimes," ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told reporters.
"I think that's a very important issue," he said. "We are raising this concern to the national authorities and they are preparing a plan to have a comprehensive strategy to investigate all these crimes."
Under pressure from Western allies, Libya's National Transitional Council has promised to investigate how Gadhafi and his son Muatassim were killed.
Cell phone footage showed both alive after their capture. The former Libyan leader was seen being mocked, beaten and abused before he died. NTC officials said crossfire was to blame for his death.
A lawyer for Gadhafi's daughter said on Wednesday he had written to the ICC to ask if an investigation had been launched into the killing of her father and brother.
Patrick Baz / AFP - Getty Images, file
A defaced portrait of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is pictured in Tripoli on September 1.
A copy of the letter, seen by Reuters, said that Mommar Gadhafi and Muatassim were "murdered in the most horrific fashion with their bodies thereafter displayed and grotesquely abused in complete defiance of Islamic law."
Story: Gadhafi daughter seeks ICC probe into his killing
The U.N. Security Council referred Gadhafi's crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators to the ICC in February and authorized military intervention to protect civilians in March. The ICC indicted Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and the former intelligence chief for war crimes.
Saif al-Islam is now in the custody of the Libyan authorities who have said they plan to try in him in Libya instead of handing him over to The Hague-based ICC. Moreno-Ocampo has said this was possible.
Story: Libya can try Gadhafi's son, Seif
Moreno-Ocampo has also said he was investigating allegations that the anti-Gadhafi forces and NATO were also guilty of war crimes during the civil war.
40,000 killed?
Meanwhile, Libya's new interim government, which has been in control of the oil-producing OPEC member since Gadhafi fled Tripoli in August, estimates that more than 40,000 Libyans were killed during the country's civil war.
"Gadhafi was responsible for these deaths," Libyan U.N. envoy Ibrahim Dabbashi told Reuters on Thursday.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., tells TODAY's Savannah Guthrie says it would have been better if former Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, who was brutally murdered Thursday by the people he ruled over for more than 40 years, had been hauled off to an international criminal court to be held accountable for his crimes.
His comments came in response to calls by New York-based campaigners for NATO to investigate its role in the deaths of civilians during the civil war.
Fred Abrahams of Human Rights Watch (HRW), a rights advocacy group, is in Libya and has been investigating several dozen civilian casualties allegedly caused by NATO.
Abrahams has been investigating the matter to determine as precisely as possible how many civilians were killed by the NATO airstrikes, which began in March and ceased in October.
"By our count, up to 50 civilians died in the (NATO) campaign, perhaps more," Abrahams told Reuters.
"We're not alleging unlawful attacks, let alone war crimes," he said. "We believe the onus is on NATO to investigate these cases thoroughly so they can identify and correct the mistakes."
He urged NATO to consider compensation "as appropriate."
However, Libya's government has not asked NATO to investigate.
"There is no need for a NATO investigation," Dabbashi said. "Usually it is acceptable that there will be some civilian casualties because of some errors."
A press officer at NATO said the alliance was unaware of any reports from rights groups but was ready to receive them.
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The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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The rebels who killed Gadhafi should tell the ICC to go straight to hell. His trial would have turned into a circus just like everything else that is run by the ICC or the UN or any of the other international organizations. They did the right thing and that should be the end of it.
That's a funny thing about rebellions, they tend to end in rough ways. So the rebels in this case caught Qaddafi (with the help of US intellegence from what I've heard)- they then took it upon themselves to sodomize him with a rifle, beat him up, shoot him multiple times, drag him through the streets, and finally shoot him in the head.
I am a bit curious about the ICC's "war crimes" claims. President Obama said that this wasn't a war, remember he used US forces in Libya far beyond the War Powers Act requirements and never took it before Congress. So if it was purely a "rebellion" or a "coup", would Libya be required to follow the Geneva Conventions and the "rules of war" or can they do as they wish???
Say, did you hear that cute little item from Vladimir Putin the other day? He said that the US killed Qaddafi. Doesn't seem to like us anymore, eventhough Secretary of State Clinton issued him the "reset" button for our relations. Nice. (BTW- That new candidate in the Russian elections- the NBA owner- is being used by Putin to draw more votes away from the candidate against him. You see, the NBA owner wants his money out of Russia and Putin controls what money leaves. So he's going to use this ploy to get re-elected. Get it?)
so what makes any new government better than the last ? jsut cause one group (rebels , france , us, ect..) wants what others have(oil) does not make it right to invade and murder someone. (even the dictators rule was brutal) .. so should we execute the all gov"t officials that lied to cause acts of war ? think about it , there's no right or wrong but who u stand with and for your own survival, bottom line..
I thought it was a really bad way to launch their new government. I don't care if the ICC is investigating. It was barbaric and gives more that a clue, at least in my opinion, to what the new country will be like. You can play political games all you like, but what was done is wrong. Sometimes things are that simple.
Good luck finding the one man responsible. Brings to mind the scene in the movie Spartacus where the rebels are captured and asked to point out Spartacus and each claims "I am Spartacus!"
......in the end .....all the Libyans want is a UN handout
FOR Shark-1185366 (nickname says it all): you look like somebody who has a very vague notion about justice as many other morons. By the way what are you doing for living "Shark"?
Amen to that. The fact is that deposing brutal dictators isn't pretty. OOOOOOO, let's have a trial; rules of evidenec and all that. BS.
They had a trial for Sadam, it worked out well didn't it? Gadhafi deserved a trial, POS or not, the rebels were wrong, and we were wrong to help them.
Bush and Cheney deserves a trial. I would like to be a jury member.
Bush and Cheney committed no war crimes, they went into Iraq with congressional approval, unlike Libya, was it stupid and wrong to go? yes, definitely. We went into Iraq and removed a brutal dictator so if you want to go with the Bush/Cheney need to be tried shouldn't we do the same for President Obama?
"Compensation" from NATO? In other words, the USA. And by the way, Bob Hall, speaking of trials, didn't the President authorize this without Congressional approval? And you people still raise hell about Iraq and Afghanistan, which were approved by your liberal buds in Congress. Please explain what the difference is here, I would like to hear it.
Ha, Ha, BS!
Yes, this is obviously a serious matter and the ICC should investigate it right after they determine who illegally parked that vehicle in the middle of the street.
daffy wasn't thinking about that when he was murdering his countrymen by the thousands. So he caught a stray bullet. It was after all a war zone. Don't waste one more cent on this human trash.
exactly skiddy
Gaddafi deserved to die. So did Awlaki, Bin Ladin and the rest of the terrorist and murderous despots that have murdered in the Middle East. What I find most interesting is how the US Media went after Bush for "torturing" KSM 180 times (that is a lot to survive how bad could it be) and today he looks good, while the Media praises Obama for executing bad guys. Don't get me wrong, they all should rot in hell, but it is interesting how the media judges our leaders.
Wake up Now
If you really believe that there is a big conspiracy with Bush and the Osama Bin Ladin, and that 911 was a big conspiracy, then you have brought brainwashing and conspiracy to a whole new level. Put on your tin foil hat and hold your breath.
Wake up now
I would love to have a beer with you and watch the game. I am all for freedom of speech and respect your ability to exercise it. As to the game, sadly, I am a Bills fan. But I am a big football and lacrosse fan.
I have read the constitution and declaration. I have also read the 911 Commission, the Iraq Study Group report, the Looming Tower, Hamas versus Fatah, War of Necessity/War of Choice, and a lot of other books about 911, Al Qaida, the ME and terrorism. I read a lot on the Internet but realize that so much of it is just BS and opinion.
But I DO appreciate your comments. Be well.
So let me get this straight...we provide CIA support and military training to the rebels...
We impose a no-fly zone and take out any Libyan air threat.
We bomb the crap out of Tripoli.
We hit Ghadaffi's convoy with an air strike.
And now the Libyan 'rebels' are guilty of murder?
That's too funny.
To the victor goes the spoils of war. To the loser, disgrace, humiliation, and war crime trials.
There will be no war crime trial of those who killed Khadafi just as there will be no war crime trial of Bush I, Bush II, and Obama for killing tens of thousands of civilian in the Iraq Wars, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. When the President of the USA can openly assassinate with impunity several disloyal Americans living abroad, there will be no war crime trials of any American leaders for the killing of non-American civilians.
Members of ICC should be tried for their partisan acts.
They could not do anything to Gadhaffi and his men for Lockerbie bombings. These dogs are barking now. Were they sleeping or dead?
They are trying Serbian leaders. What about Bosnian leaders?
These fake, partisan and most useless black coats on earth have been silent on genocides of minorities in Muslim nations. Start with Pakistan.
It is time to wind up ICC and dump the members to the nearest sea for being responsible for the partisan acts. This is minimum a civilized world can do!
Gadhafi's death was JUSTICE, for the countless people he and his family MURDERED and had MURDERED, period.
Yes, two wrongs always make a right.
Believer - Two wrongs do not make a right but three lefts do
Sadam who was WAY worse than Gadhafi got a trial, so yes believer is correct.
Live by the sword...die by the sword.
@ 1SGFitzsWife4ID; Saddam never said he was going to fight to the death...Mommar did. Therefore, Gadhafi got exactly what he wished for. So it really doesn't matter what YOU think is correct!
yes it does matter what I think is correct steel, it's that whole free speech thing. Sadam did say he wasn't leaving, he tried to control everything until he was found hiding in a hole, and was given a trial and hung like the garbage he was.
...wanted for war crimes.Victim of a war crime. I'd say the score is even. Oh, and three lefts make a right.
Ahh yes, Saddam....Another nation which we helped
install an Islamic government.
Bush and Obama must really like the Muslim religion.
I'm sensing a pattern here.
You don't suppose....they want us to invade Syria and *gasp* install an Islamic government???
an eye for an eye, nuf said
Thinking the same thing Kula.....word for word!
I know this sounds cruel, but why should I care about Ghadaffi? He murdered and abused his own people (and others!) for decades. His crimes deserved punishment. War crimes have existed for as long as anyone can remember. No one will ever be prosecuted for it. Abuse of the corpse? Does anyone remember Mussolini? Ghadaffi was a murderous despot, and he got what he deserved--court or no court. I have no question that justice was done, it was just a little more quick than most.
The ICC likes to sit in their big air conditioned offices and talk about how wars should be fought. If they don't like the way it turned out then they should go to the war zones and protect the dictators being hunted!
They would have called Mussolini's death a war crime too.
I just saw an article about American Soldiers killing Iraqi civilians and it has 10 pages of comments of how horrible this act was. But I guaranteeing that those same people post on this board saying that he deserved every bit of it. If you have to have double standards at least do it in the favor of our own troops for peaks sake!
I would like to work at the ICC. Nice European location, pontificating from afar, not really having to do or expected to do anything. Sweeeeet.
so what makes any new government better than the last ? jsut cause one group (rebels , france , us, ect..) wants what others have(oil) does not make it right to invade and murder someone. (even the dictators rule was brutal) .. so should we execute the all gov"t officials that lied to cause acts of war ? think about it , there's no right or wrong but who u stand with and for your own survival, bottom line..
And murdering bin laden wasn't?
Lol good point! and the gov't can't prove otherwise because they ditched the body, which probably had a bullet in the back of the head!
There is no crazy conspiracy in this world. Humans are too arrogant and dumb to be able to control the whole world without it being obvious. You are telling people to stop listening to news because of propaganda and read the sites you read because they're true. Do you know who controls those sites? Maybe some unknown organization who has a member in every government in the world making YOU think you are correct? Bin Laden planned 9/11, Bush is not smart enough to start conspiracies, and the rebels may have raped women but is that someting we could have helped? Doubtful. Money, like you said, is basically just meaningless data. We have been in debt forever, we do not know where the money went just like most countries and we do not know who we owe what. What will someone do once they tell us we need to pay their money and we say no? Just start a war and once it is over we are off scott free. I agree we need some type of currency that actually means something like it used to as this also will kepp prices accurate. Not sure it will happen though.
I think I speak for everyone in Libya when i say that Mr. Moreno-Ocampo is more than welcome to travel over to Libya and look for those responsible for the killing of Gadhafi. I'm sure everyone will be very cooperative in that investigation b/c no one wanted to see him murdered like some kind of dog in the street...with things being shoved up his rectum as he received the comeuppance he so richly deserved.
Of course it was a war crime and the war it self was a war crime. A war for resources is not a legal war and this war was for oil. The blood is on the hands of Conoco-Phillips and many other operators in Libya.
We even made allies of Al Queada when they were willing to sign the oil contracts. Then The missiles started flying.
When did NATO become a branch of the American goverment? Now we tell them what do do? How stupid are they? The Russians were right when they said we were just building a new army.
This tyrant had the blood of thousands on his hands. I am not going to mourn his killing. The ICC never brought him to trial, but now they want to nail someone for killing him? Bull scat.
When you treat your people the way Gadhafi did, you better make sure that they don't get a chance to get ahold of you, or this will most certainly happen. Funny thing about people, they don't take to 40 years of tyrannical murder, torture, and terror too kindly.
Hmmm... Can you reason with a scorpion that fell into a cold pit, and you just place him on your bare chest to warm him up?
.
Too late now.
Obama should have never entered the Libyan civil war. Doing so cause far more deaths than if the Libyans had been left alone to sort themselves out.
Soon enough Libya will be controlled by a radical islamist group that will repress Libyans far more and far worse than Qaddafi ever did.
What will our glorious leader do then when Libya becomes a terrorist hideout?
.
Pat himself on the back most likely.
The ICC is a joke, all the Libyans will simply ignore them, as they should.
There was no war until we showed up to help them. Strange isn't it?
It's interresting that killing Qaddafi is a war crime; how about murdering his daughter?
The ICC is a transparent appendage of neo-colonial imperialism. I'm not saying the people they indict aren't criminals, only that unless and until they start going after American and European war criminals they have no credibility.
Kissinger, anyone?
ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo
______________
Why do we have this type of persons to represent us is my question? what an idiot!
A war is a war! ICC says you can murder people but you have to play fair and by these civilized rules. Oxymoron-civilized war!
This whole thing was poorly planned and thought out. We are going to get an even worse government than what was there.
This was no more a "war crime" than was the Iraqi war. If one is, so is the other; and if one isn't, neither is the other!
If President Bush is a criminal for Iraq, so is 0 bama for Libya. If 0 bama is a "hero" for Libya, so is President Bush for Iraq.
Obama doesn't condone torture. Dubya and Dick were all for water boarding. It's a fact.
"Dubya" had congressional approval for Iraq. Obama skipped that little law for Libya. It's a fact.
The King is dead Topper, let him go.
Off with that prosecutors head!!!
It's simple, those who live by the sword, die by the sword. Folks need to stop meddling and let this country get on with the business of getting itself organized and begin its healing process. Letting outsiders dictate this issue will only anger the Libyans and empower the radical factions.
"War Crime"! He was an avowed murderer, a criminal himself.
It is hard to believe that the ICC hasn't better things to do than waste time on a dead tyrant.
Good riddance to a bad era!