Muammar Gaddafi’s brutal rule exposed

2011-07-19 11:27

News24

 Cape Town - A human rights team has revealed a huge archive of footage and images detailing Muammar Gaddafi’s brutal reign over Libya, among them the hanging of Sadiq Hamed Shwehdi who was accused of plotting to assassinate the leader of the revolution in 1984, the Guardian has reported.

According to the report, the gruesome act of execution was witnessed by thousands of children who were bussed into Benghazi’s basketball stadium.

"Thousands of schoolchildren and students were bussed into Benghazi's basketball stadium, where they saw a frightened young man with curly hair and beard, kneeling with his hands bound behind his back, pleading for his life before people's prosecutors”, the report said.

In the recently discovered film, the reports said, Shwehdi is seen alone in the centre of the stadium, sobbing as he confesses to his crime of joining the "stray dogs" before being sentenced to death.

The Guardian said Gaddafi had already ruled Libya for 15 years in 1984 “and he had a fearsome reputation for brutality towards his enemies. But the grim scene that unfolded in the eastern city of Benghazi was a spectacular first even for him".

The report comes at a time when Gaddafi has vowed he will never leave the land of his ancestors, following fresh international calls for him to go, and as rebels pressed their campaign to overthrow him.

- News24