Gaddafi Shaming Bodes Poorly for Libya

23

Author: Sam Byrne

 

Libyan leader Col. Muammer Gaddafi’s body reveals a death of a most brutal nature, and remained on display in a two-day public event. Images show the tyrant’s decaying corpse on the dust ridden floor of an empty meat market, as surrounding spectators grin and applaud, holding toy guns and making victory signs with their fingers. Though Gaddafi’s death marks a new period of Libyan freedom, the macabre spectacle glorifies the very traditional Hammurabi “eye for an eye” mode of punishment. Showcasing a mangled body not only violates burial rituals of Islamic tradition, but it hinders the ethical and political progress in a country that desperately needs a stable government. 

Following Gaddafi’s death, the Prime Minister of Libya’s National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdel Jalil, declared his intention to transition from autocracy to a more democratic system following Islamic Shariah law as its basic source of legislation. The new transitional leadership also vowed to bury the dictator privately within twenty-four hours of his death, respecting Islamic tradition. The end of Gadaffi’s reign was supposed to mark the beginning of a democratized, fair government that respected human rights, but the way the rebels handled Gaddafi’s murder violates the democratic right to humane treatment and a fair trial.

The pre-trial killing of Gaddafi cast doubt on the new government’s promise to respect human rights and to prevent vengeful acts of punishment. Already the new government’s policies do not stray far from Gaddafi’s own torturous and murderous acts as former dictator, even though Mustafa Abdel Jalil intends to transition into a fully functioning democracy. The fact that the National Transitional Council has yet to investigate the murder in a court of law, and did not make even the slightest effort to intervene when Gaddafi’s body was placed on display as a prize for the Libyan people shows that the new government feels no rush to begin the vital transformation of the government’s policies.

Jalil addressed Gaddafi’s death at a news conference in Bengazi, acknowledging that “free Libyans wanted Gaddafi to spend as much time in prison as possible and feel humiliation as much as possible.” While he recognizes that an ideal democratic solution would have involved the capture and subsequent imprisonment of the dictator, Jalil never directly condemned the rebels’ bloodthirsty murder. He never ordered the rebels to kill the tryrant, yet he also never declared the murder or the open display of the body as contradictory to the values of the new government. To sustain the wave of democratic fervor Jalil hopes to associate with the National Transitional Council, a more tactical approach would have been for Jalil to publicly declare Gaddafi’s murder a vengeful and criminal act that violates behavioral standards of the new government. 

The crowds in Sirte who came to view the body indicate that a significant emphasis has been placed on the fact that Gaddafi’s reign ended with death, whereas Libyans should also remember to consider the implications of Gaddafi’s brutal murder as well. The new leaders need to denounce and discourage the former ruler’s heinous acts, instead of displaying his corpse in an crude and disrespectful manner. Placing Gaddafi’s brutalized cadaver on a dirty floor, leaving it for the viewing pleasure of young and old alike, does not solve anything, let alone the deep corruption of the Gaddafi regime. It might bring solace to the oppressed people of Libya, but it does not help to build a new government or fix the problems perpetuated under the deposed dictator’s leadership.

The democratic ideals the new interim government proclaims stand in stark opposition to those of Gaddafi’s political establishment, and yet its supporters executed the leader in a similarly gruesome manner to how Gaddafi executed victims in his own era. In the interest of moving toward a stable and democratic society after the successful deposition and capture of Gaddafi, the rebels should have granted the former ruler a trial, and considered a judicious punishment not involving a brutal and spontaneous murder in the midst of a chaotic riot. If putting Gaddafi’s body on such barbaric display sheds any light on how the new government will lead the country, it should come as no surprise to Libya when its government makes little progress in the months or years to come.  

 

Sam Byrne is a junior Economics major. She can be reached at  sbyrne@oxy.edu.

This article has been archived, for more requests please contact us via the support system.

Loading

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here