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Warning: This site contains images and graphic descriptions of extreme violence and/or its effects. It's not as bad as it could be, but is meant to be shocking. Readers should be 18+ or a mature 17 or so. There is also some foul language occasionally, and potential for general upsetting of comforting conventional wisdom. Please view with discretion.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

1,200 Bodies Buried at Abu Salim Prison. Really?

September 26, 2011
last update Sept. 29


For fifteen years Libyans have asked what happened at Tripoli's notorious Abu Salim prison back in June 1996. Well, the ones we hear from in the West actually don't - by now anyway they all seem to know and agree on the answer: about 1,270 prisoners, a vast majority of all those incarcerated there, were killed in a single day, June 28. For merely protesting their conditions, it's being summarized now, the victims were reportedly massacred in their cells, with grenades and guns, on government orders.

The legend is amazingly similar to that of the Libyan uprising of this year, but in miniature, and with a more literal prison as opposed to the whole country framed as one to riot within. Little surprise that memories of the '96 massacre fueled the initial protests and uprising until fresher blood greased the slide into full-on civil war.

I'm not read up on this chapter of the regime's alleged history, but I have seen it brought into doubt and myself have serious doubts. I didn't immediately find a good article articulating them, but two have since surfaced. Thanks to reader Felix we have a pre-existing critique by Lou Paulsen, summarizing the evidence available earlier this year. It comes across as a rather unimpressive case. And then Martin Iqbal just now wrote a great article at Empire Strikes Black. This one is quite detailed and worth a read.

The main point throughout, whatever one makes of the evidence that some number of prisoner were killed, is that 1,270 is a hefty number with little to support it. It comes down to one man's telling of his own count of lunch trays: 1,500 a day before the massacre, 300 after. Massive transfers in the wake of the riot? Don't be silly - we can be quite sure just from that about a hundred dozen were fatally killed. The reason we can be so sure is it's a "Gaddafi crime," and those are always fair game, no matter how little sense they make.

Physically true or not, the new rebel government just on Sunday announced, rather dramatically, that they have found the prisoners' remains near the prison grounds. Closure seemed at hand. I've been off the news track acouple of days, and the first I heard of this development was from Martin Iqbal, with an earlier article: "NTC concocts mass grave story in brazen propaganda ploy"
In a piece posted today after a NTC news conference, the BBC uses the headline: “More than 1,200 bodies found in Tripoli mass grave“. Categorically, absolutely, unequivocally, this is an out-and-out lie; 1,200 bodies have not been found. Not a single body has been found. In fact, no excavation has been performed, and no more than ‘several bone fragments’ have been discovered, according to the NTC.
It's true - the report itself clarifies that "several bone fragments and pieces of clothing have already been found in the top soil," and the "mass grave" is only "believed to contain" the massacre's remains. But hey, what else would a "mass grave" contain aside from some number of bodies? Excavation, expected soon, was apparently believed to be certain to reaffirm that hunch, or else the BBC wouldn't be so bold as to state the bodies had been found.

Mr. Iqbal calls this "an out-and-out lie," even adding three further adverbs for emphasis. But the editors, if pressed to describe the type of misinformation they published, would surely prefer the term "a grammatical inaccuracy." It should have read "more than 1,200 bodies surmised to be in the ground..." or perhaps even "possible mass grave located..." They implicitly apologize for the poor choice of words which served, accidentally, to vilify the regime we just bombed into the dirt and to justify an otherwise questionable and highly illegal operation.

Doubts aside, these upper traces were just the tip of the iceberg, the rebel leadership and the BBC's editors said they believed. The bodies apparently ground and mulched into the soil so some bits could be found way up on the surface. If so, a quick dig should turn up more fragments, and we should expect a little bit of verification soon.

The Guardian reports:
Libyan revolutionary authorities have reported the discovery of a mass grave containing the remains of 1,270 inmates
[...]
The announcement was made on Sunday by Ibrahim Abu Sahima of the government committee overseeing the search for victims of the former regime.

He said investigators found the grave two weeks ago after receiving information from captured regime officials and witnesses.
This has the find coming in mid-September, from extracted leads. But CNN also reported on this and found "the Tripoli site was located by revolutionaries on August 20, said Kamal el Sherif, a member of a National Transitional Council committee." Members of the same committee give two different find dates, one of them days before rebels controlled the area in question. Odd.

Either way, this esteemed body of level-headed detectives had a month to poke around, look at the bones, think about the whole thing, maybe even dig deeper in spots. Whatever they found, it led them to finally decided this was pretty solid. And so they called a press conference to tell the whole world the amazing news, as Mr. Sherif put it in an Associated Press piece “We have discovered the truth about what the Libyan people have been waiting for many years, and it is the bodies and remains of the Abu Salim massacre." They also took the chance to clarify the remaining challenges. As CNN reported:
"There is a lot more to be done to reach the actual truth of this massacre," said Dr. Salem Fergani, a committee member. "To be honest, we were not prepared to deal with such human massacres, so we request the assistance of the international community. We need specialists in the field to help us in identifying the victims ... this is a national mission. The families of these victims have the right to learn the truth about their deceased sons."
[...]
It could take years to identify all the bodies through DNA, Fergani said Sunday.
It's very scientific work, most likely involving digging, laying out bones without mixing remains, and having family members look at them and say yes, that's my son. The confirming records will all be destroyed, but he'll have been arrested for nothing worse than "not liking Gaddafi," or perhaps "praying too much," and then killed for only daring to speak up.

Any of their bodies purportedly found - here or anywhere - ideally should be aged accurately by pure scientists.  Luckily 15 years ago vs. the last few weeks is a clear enough difference to be sure the crime happened under the Gaddafi regime anyway, as opposed to the mass-grave generators of late, the chaotic new NATO rebel regime.

But such detailed considerations might be moot here as the musty smell of a dead end gets nearer: CNN actually added something useful this time - a preliminary expert opinion:
It was unclear, however, whether the site actually was a mass grave, as no excavation has taken place. Members of the media were shown bones at the site, but medics with CNN staffers on the scene said the bones did not appear to be human.
Is that why Dr. Ferghani emphasized this as a "human massacre?" This might be a good place to stop and laugh, but their expert could be wrong. For example, maybe Libyans are just built different. The rebel guys - including Dr. Ferghani (clearly a smart guy of some stripe) - were all pretty sure, even after a month's reflection, that these bones their captives led them to were the right ones.

Some of the bones in question, for anyone who
wants to see for themselves.
Source.
Or perhaps the former guards were pranking them by directing them to the graveyard for prison dogs, and the whole commission, collectively, with a month to look at the bones and think it over, didn't catch on before cruelly raising the hopes of the victims' relatives.

If this turns out to be the case, well, the shocking news has already gone out to the world and the murmured or nonexistent retractions  won't be enough to correct that defect in most peoples' minds. Already we had 1,200 more victims found, and people will be allowed to keep that hinted closure. After all, it seems like re-affirmation of the justness of the war, by reality itself, for the 500th time, as if reality itself were somewhat insecure about the whole deal.
--- end main article

The Utility of Misleading Headlines
Here are a few instructive comments from an example run by the Huffington Post: "Libya Mass Grave: Tripoli Site Contained 1,270 Bodies from 1996 Massacre."

wonderingstar
12:58 PM on 9/26/2011
[...]
So let me get this straight:

A "muddy field that contained animal bones"
where
"no human remains have been found"
morphs into
"NTC suspect is a mass grave"
which is
"believed to hold the remains of 1,270 inmates" ....

....and this become a Huffpost Headine that reads:

LIBYA MASS GRAVE: TRIPOLI SITE CONTAINED 1,270 BODIES
********** *****
This is not journalism .

Animal bones do not equal 1,270 bodies
Some earlier comments are, collectively, more amusing.

songoftherushes
04:26 AM on 9/26/2011
Headline: "Libya Mass Grave: Tripoli Site Contained 1,270 Bodies From 1996 Massacre"

None of this is confirmed at all. They don't know how many remains are there. They don't know if these are victims of the 1996 events at Abu Salim.


But this kind of reporting serves a purpose.
Indeed. One rebel-supporter's response to this comment shows the purpose of these widespread grammatical inaccuracies upon the lazy of mind:

lawrence of america
01:04 PM on 9/26/2011
explain then why, in a 99.999% muslim country, where the rule is to get a corpse into his own grave after ritual cleaning is soooo very important, there just happens to be a random mass grave with almost the exact number of bodies as was accused to have been killed at bu slaim prison massacre.
Yeah, how you esplain that, smar' guy?




Pre-Coverage
One of the more interesting pieces came about three days before the NTC announcement. It was Human Rights Watch whose 2006 report on a couple of witness' stories basically created the Abu Salim prison massacre story we know (Libyans have only been protesting about the 1,200 dead -or 33 dead, see comments - since 2008). They mentioned their baby again prophetically after the recent slew of Tripoli mass graves. On September 22, they were concerned with the dangers of improper exhumations being done all over the capitol:
In addition to grave sites holding people killed during the six-month conflict, other sites relating to pre-conflict incidents are also at risk. These may include the graves of an estimated 1,200 prisoners killed in the Abu Salim prison massacre in 1996, whose remains were never returned to their families.
"Oh, hey, that's right!" someone said that day. Three days later they made it official - the HRW prediction had come "true."

Further Coverage
A BBC follow-up adds little except a less grammatically misleading title "Libyan 'prison massacre grave' revives painful memories." It still fails to acknowledge any questions over the grave, or the massacre story itself. Many others picked up the story, the vast majority following suit and presenting this as either certainly or most likely the grave of at least some human victims
Ony a CNN follow-up expands on the CNN-infused notion of non-human bones, this time supported by an NTC official, this time "hedging their claim," if a little late.
"Some investigations have been conducted on this mass grave specifically, and there has been no conclusion yet," said Jamal Ben Noor, a senior official with the Justice and Human Rights Ministry. Ben Noor said the site reported behind Abu Salim prison in Tripoli "could be something else," because the bones found here are bigger than normal human remains.
[...]
a CNN team that was brought to the muddy field with other news outlets found only what appeared to be animal bones.
I thought they looked relatively humanoid, and about the right size, or even a bit small (aside from that molar - it looks big to me), but I don't know bones. I call a non-carnivorous mammal of decent size. There's video there of the site, just a short chunk of raw footage. It shows severalof the bone fragments, very old tin cans, glass jars, and other less identifiable junk, besides the clothes, and even bone wrapped in rope we've now heard of. The clothing does seem to have possible blood stains - random locals show it off, with no investigative control of the site or anything.

On the 26th, Human Rights Watch reiterated its warning to do nothing with the mass graves - this one in particular - to avoid messing up important evidence. By the 28th, the NTC said the area was un-dug and heavily guarded. The field of apparent animal bones under control, rebel diggers started working on exposing a grave near the Rixos hotel, perhaps to destroy clues as per the warning.

I predict a very slow response to the alleged grave of 1,270, citing expert caution as the reason to delay finding there's no such thing there.

News 24 mentions the doubts as more than half its story Libya mass grave still in doubt.
Libya's new regime must still confirm that a site discovered in Tripoli this week is a mass grave containing the remains of more than 1 700 prisoners executed in 1996, a National Transitional Council official said on Tuesday.

"I cannot guarantee 100% that there is a mass grave there... But we have found human remains, I have no doubt, I have found them myself," Salim al-Serjani, the deputy head of the NTC's committee for missing persons, told AFP.

NTC officials announced on Sunday that they had found a mass grave at the site containing the bodies of people killed at Tripoli's notorious Abu Salim jail.

Reports have since emerged questioning the veracity of the claim and noting that some of the remains appeared to be from animals.

Serjani said it was too early to be certain what had been buried at the site.

"It needs much more investigation; more time needs to be spent to determine if it is a mass grave," he said.
Yeah, about that... ideally, it's done before one goes to the world loudly proclaiming that it is in fact a mass grave, and one expected to match the tally of one witness' alleged count of lunch trays.

33 comments:

  1. Well, the Guardian Reported more than two weeks ago that
    "Diggers found multiple bodies in a single grave – one of 38 graves at a cemetery in Tripoli. It is believed the remains had been moved there from the notorious Abu Salim jail, scene of the killing of inmates in 1996.

    More than 1,000 bodies are still thought to be within the grounds of the prison. Excavations there have been delayed as officials await the arrival of experts and equipment for DNA testing. Digging is expected to begin in a week"


    Al Arabiya now reports today this handful of bone fragments found on Sunday 25th Septemeber.... (at 0.25 in the video).

    Slow progress. A few more unsatisfying details here from the Feb 17th Youth Movement movement
    "....A bone wrapped with rope and skull fragments scattered over a cactus-covered desert field....

    ReplyDelete
  2. i.e. The two dates refer to two different locations. But I am mystified why they did not look at the more obvious location first.

    I was interested to find out how the Abu Salim prison numbers were arrived at. On looking, I discovered Lou Paulsen also was back in March and it seems to be single sourced. Original Human Rights Watch report archived here

    "Abu Salim prison held between 1,600 and 1,700 prisoners at the time, and the security forces killed "around 1,200 people," al-Shafa'i said. He calculated this figure by counting the number of meals he prepared prior to and after the incident."
    This part of the report is less often quoted:
    "A Libyan group based in Switzerland, Libyan Human Rights Solidarity, says that since 2001 the authorities have notified 112 families that a relative held in Abu Salim is dead, without providing the body or details on the cause of death. In addition, 238 families claim they have lost contact with a relative who was a prisoner in Abu Salim."

    The lhrs.ch website is not very active and the NFSL reports have vanished.


    A user called qwerty started pasting the HRW report in February 2011 on articles/blogs.

    ReplyDelete
  3. CNN: "we request the assistance of the international community." Might I suggest some nations who might help?

    By the way, discussion at the Huffington Post, including the succinct comment

    "This is not journalism­.
    Animal bones do not equal 1,270 bodies"*


    *pace my comment above, the number being single sourced, based on wild assumptions and Lou Paulsen's piece.. As Lou says, the HRW report with the numbers remained untouched until Feb 2011.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hmmm... first link: "multiple bodies"in one of 38 graves. Wonder what led them to dig up that grave? Apparently something someone told them,or that they got someone to. and how many bodies is multiple?

    The Feb 17 report seems derived from this AP one.

    Thanks for the Paulsen link, will add that. I hear Martin Iqbal might write up a piece too - there's really so little about this, just HRW and a lot of unverifiable self-described family members.

    More later...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Amnesty International has just [26 September] put out a press release saying the site "should be secured immediately to protect evidence and ensure accurate identification of the bodies,"
    (i.e. assumed bodies) and continues "more than 1,200 prisoners are believed to have died during the Abu Salim Prison killings of June 1996. .
    Yet its own report from 2011 The Battle for Libya (September 2011) states :
    ".....public protests had been held in Benghazi since 2008 by families of victims of the Abu Salim Prison killings, where up to 1,200 detainees were extra-judicially executed in 1996 by security forces following a riot by detainees protesting against appalling prison conditions.


    In June 2008, the Benghazi North Court of First Instance ruled that the authorities must reveal the whereabouts and fate of 33 individuals believed to have died in Abu Salim or elsewhere in custody."

    ReplyDelete
  6. I realise I had overlooked an earlier, June 2010 report by Anmesty Internation and a potentially more interesting one from HRW,Truth and Justice Can't Wait.
    "The number [around 1200 deaths in Abu Salim] was also confirmed by the Libyan
    Secretary of Justice to Human Rights Watch in April 2009* and in a press release by the
    Gaddafi Foundation on August 10, 2009 which set the number at 1167**


    *Human Rights Watch interview with Counselor Mostafa Abdeljalil, Secretary of Justice, Tripoli, April 26, 2009 - this is our friend Mustafa Abdul Jalil, chairman of the NTC, promulgator of the No-Fly Zone on 5 March 2011 and who on 22 February 2011, he claimed in an interview with Swedish newspaper Expressen that he had proof Gaddafi had personally ordered the 1988 Lockerbie bombing....

    **Press Release on Various Cases,” Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation, August 10, 2009,[president Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi]

    The HRW article adds:
    "Following the decision of the North Benghazi court, starting in December 2008 Libyan
    authorities began issuing death certificates to the families, without acknowledging that they
    were related to the Abu Salim killings. These documents do not include the correct date,
    place or any cause of death. The authorities have offered compensation of 200,000 Libyan
    Dinars ($162,300) in exchange for assurances that family members will not pursue further
    5 Human Rights Watch | December 2009
    legal claims in Libyan or international courts.

    and also
    "In April 2008, Secretary of Justice
    Mostafa Abdeljalil, gave an interview to Libya Al Youm. In it, he said his ministry had asked Internal Security for the list of those who died in the 1996 incident but had been unable to obtain the precise information."

    ReplyDelete
  7. ....continued from the HRW paper....

    "Between 2001 and 2006 the authorities notified around 112 families, a small fraction of thetotal number of disappeared prisoners, that a relative held in Abu Salim was dead, without
    providing the body or details on the cause of death. However, until recently, most of the
    families had received no official notification about the fate of their loved ones. From January
    to March 2009, the government stepped up the process, providing verification to an
    estimated 351 families, of which 160 are in Benghazi, and the rest in Tripoli, Derna, Al Bayda and Misrata. Libyan Secretary of Justice Mostafa Abdeljalil told Human Rights Watch in April 2009 that, to date, the People’s Leadership Committees had informed the relatives of some800 to 820 victims of their deaths and had issued them with death certificates; families of 350 to 400 victims had not yet been informed....
    "On August 10, 2009 the Gaddafi Foundation issued a statement saying that 569 families had received compensation and that 598 families remained."
    [Total 1167]

    ReplyDelete
  8. Interesting twist! We have a near-worthless lunch-tray-based count of app. 1,200 to start - 1,500 lunches a day became 300. IF TRUE (not verified), it could mean a brief glitch, a punishment to some, that that many were killed, or that many were transferred, perhaps scattered to prevent them getting together with a plot like that again. Martin'sarticleis reallygood on this, but didn't mention transfer, so I left a comment.

    Now - that's a shaky base for as massive a claim as the massacre of 1,270 souls. But the government - seems to have admitted it! Well,isn't that troubling?

    Actually, it is, one way or another, but that's the thing -there's one way and another, not just the one most will see. This was around 2009 they were willing to acknowledge 1,167 deaths, paperwork kept vague. That reminds me of a little letter they wrote to the UN back in 2003, about taking "responsibility" for "the actions of its employees,"whatever those were or weren't.

    Indeed, this is perhaps nothing more than the same soft, Seif-era, investment-minded, word-game-playing era of "admitting" to the Lockerbie bombing, which everyone knows they didn't have a thing to do with. In retrospect, it was a disaster of a phase.

    That said, I'll want to review the information myself later before getting more firm on that, but that's a first blush thought.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Forgot to address:
    "i.e. The two dates refer to two different locations. "
    I see how the one date connects to a separate find, but both are also linked with the site in question with the sheep bones or whatever they are. So maybe that's the source of the wrong date, but two dates are given. And the one is, I thought, before rebels were even in Tripoli at all.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I tooo am a bit suspicious about any pronouncements from the former Gaddafi Foundation...I also need to write a note about the earlier 2010 Anmesty report which touches on this important area of debate. Bit busy just now.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Just to keep this in one place for reference - Amnesty International produced a report in June 2010, which discusses Abu Salim - see pp 67ff.. where one reads
    "No single event symbolizes impunity for past human rights violations in Libya more than the killings of up to 1,200 prisoners in Abu Salim Prison in June 1996.
    upto 1,200... which then becomes believed to have been killed...(p.68":
    "Up to 1,200 prisoners are believed to have been killed in June 1996 in Abu Salim Prison, located in the area of Abu Salim, a suburb of Tripoli. Rumours were sparked in part
    because the families of some prisoners stopped receiving news from their relatives from June
    1996 onwards.

    Relatives of 1,200??
    We read further...
    "Estimates of the number killed reach up to 1,200. No official statistics are available on the number of people killed but according to a press release issued by the GDF in August 2009 there are at least 1,167 families of victims – some of whom lost more than one relative in the Abu Salim Prison killings. [Ref 134 in the report, GDF,[Gaddafi Development Foundation] Press release, The Foundation issues a statement on general cases and issues [original in Arabic], 10 August 2009, which is a dead link.
    The point I make is that Anmesty International quotes a figure of 1200, but there is no evidence for using it, no reference as far as I can see. They do not even cite Human Rights Watch 2006, which used the prison cook's alleged observations.The figure of 1,167 appears from the HRW report mentioned earlier,Truth & Justice Can't Wait.
    However,
    "Mohamed Tarnish, Head of the
    Human Right Society within the GDF, explained to an Amnesty International delegation on
    16 May 2009 that a fixed amount was determined by the authorities due to the large number
    of cases of families whose relatives had died in custody.....He said that some families accepted the financial compensation, while others continued to reject it either on principle or because they considered the amount insufficient in relation to the violation and the harm suffered. According to the GDF, 598 families had accepted
    compensation out of a total of 1,167 families by August 2009."
    (GDF,2009)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Excellent work! This will prove quite useful when I come back to the details. Always glad to have value-added info here. No further comment for now. Cheerio!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Al ALaam has some a fascinating story (from Dubai)
    They also have a hysterical video from yesterday..
    http://akhbar.alaan.tv/video/alaan-reports/absence-official-statistics-place-missing-file-Libya/
    ("excavation" at 00.25 seconds)
    description

    Djamel Laribi-Libyans keep discovering mass graves dated to Gaddafi era (!!!!!! - my exclamation marks)

    Exclusive report by Djamel Laribi-Libya.

    Everyday come news about discovering a mass grave in Libya, and everybody hurries to the location hoping to find the body of their missing relatives.

    Mufida is a volunteer in the 17 of February victims committee and accounting the missing and victims is one of its tasks during this national tragedy. We found her among her files while trying to help families that have been waiting with anxiety.

    Mufida.
    We are looking for the missing in the mass graves found; we have field teams that coordinate with the Red Cross and other bodies. Families know that our task is to find the missing people so they come here and give full data about their sons and relatives including photos.

    Sasia and Imran, they lost their beloved son and the sadness of his parting is clear on their faces. We asked them about their son but they had no words to express what they feel except tears from their eyes that yearn to see Abdullah.

    On this situation the family of Imran and other similar families stay while waiting to know the destiny of their missing sons, and this file will be a big burden for the coming Libyan government.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Al ALaam has some a fascinating story (from Dubai)
      They also have a hysterical video from yesterday..


      Akhbar Alaan
      City: Dubai Type: Weekly Founded: 2011

      Editor: Owner/Funding: Alaan TV, Mr. Megarief

      Delete
  14. Nice chamber pot filled with possible animal bones on the page of the Swiss newspaperTages Anzeiger, 26 Septeber posed for the camera (photo credit: Keystone)

    ReplyDelete
  15. People have come to journalists with stories..
    For instance, reported by AP (Article by Ben Hubbard, Guardian 30 August 2011,Liberated inmates tell of 'dark age' under Gadhafi
    An interesting quote is from Mohammed al-Burki, 32, who says his brother Abdel-Hakim al-Burki was arrested in 1989 (when his younger brother would have been 10) on suspicions of Islamicism: "Al-Burki said his brother was not an Islamist, but prayed regularly in mosques, which raised suspicions" !!!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Video here, uploaded 26 January 2011 - is that an Anmesty International worker addressing the BLSC? One suspects so from the text below. Who is missing from the chair?

    ReplyDelete
  17. Oh, he's here in this videoConference on the issue of Abu Salim, Manchester,uploaded 9 February 2011. Or perhaps it was for guest speakers. The 1200 deaths figure which protesters used in 2010 and 2011 is traced back to Amnesty International, as seen in the reference.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Here is a new witness from 1996: Jumaa al-Shalmani, 47
    A Libyan Massacre – 'Loud Marching Music Drowned Out the Inferno'
    SPIEGEL International, 10/03/2011

    ReplyDelete
  19. Some more camel bones via ABC Australia and Dailymotion:
    Mass Graves Uncovered in Libya

    ReplyDelete
  20. Here is another version of the story - originally from Press TV – with Dr. Salem al-Farjani giving his expert opinion.
    Mass Grave Discovered in Libya + Photos

    One of the photos shows real human remains.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Holy Camel Bones!

    Besides the rohama / Press TV story linked above, the photo of the human skull is used in many other stories of the alleged mass grave find, including Emirates 24|7, arrahmah.com, aktuality.sk, globalmuslim, and dasgelbeforum.

    In fact, Google Image Search declares: Best guess for this image: abu salim prison massacre

    Google Image Search however also reveals the original source of the uncropped image:
    Day in pictures by CBS News.

    Quote: Forensic specialist Israel Chicas excavates human remains in a clandestine grave where the bodies of 10 people were found in the town of Ateos, El Salvador, Monday, Sept. 12, 2011.
    Credit: AP Photo/Luis Romero

    ReplyDelete
  22. Brilliant. Here I was prepared to say"at least some of the bomes were apparently non-human." And it might be so, but that skull, which was new to me, when it seemed it shouldn't be...

    Perhaps the ICC can look into how the dastardly Muammar managed to plant his massacre remains all the way over in el Salvador, to hush up the truth and make his victims look like Salvadoran commie-types killed long ago by the NTC rebels of their day and locale...

    You've got many good comments lately I've been meaning to respond to. Thanks again for all your thoughtful contributions here. Cheers!

    ReplyDelete
  23. There's an online Amnesty International report from 1997 concerning Abu Salim prison and the killings there. The word used is scores Interesting reading, regarding armed Islamist uprisings.

    ReplyDelete
  24. In this AP Daily Motion video, Mass Grave Tied to Gadhafi Regime Found in Libya, a professorial suited man with spectacles and moustache speaks, identified as Dr Ibrahim Abu Sahima a member of the Government Search Committee.
    The only internet trace relating to this man seems to concern this announcement.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2011/s3325569.htm

      IBRAHIM ABU SAHIMA is mentioned in same interview as SAMI ASSADI

      and in same article :
      Colonel Alhadi al Ferjani is a senior NTC commander outside Sirte.
      ALHADI AL FERJANI (translated): There are people with Gaddafi and they are brain washed.

      Delete
  25. here are some names regarding the abu slim 1996 and 2011 :

    http://shabablibya.org/news/names-of-released-prisoners-from-abu-salim-prison-heading-back-to-benghazi-friday-august-26-2011
    names of prisoners abu saleem, now to benghazi 26 aug


    http://www.presstv.ir/detail/196007.html
    From 690 proisoners escaped buslim yesterday 540 were al qaeda member
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwQn1R8If9A&feature=endscreen&NR=1
    http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/31/us-libya-prisoners-benghazi-interview-idUSTRE77U6TV20110831


    http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/03/12/idUSLC281863
    Libya to free 170 Islamist prisoners -charity


    http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message1614135/pg14
    names victims abu slim 1996
    Khaled al-Farjani,
    Saleh al-Farjani,
    Sanoussi Hamil Mouftah al-Farjan



    Osama El - Atari ??????
    EL-ATARI, OSAMA MOHAMMAD 05/16/08 07:30AM Guilty
    Charge: DRIV UNDER REVO/SUSP Complainant:MIDDLETON, M. S.
    http://www.fairfaxunderground.com/forum/read/2/198586/198586.html

    ReplyDelete
  26. This story may be relevant to the prison "massacres", so I am saving the link here. As this guy says he has been in the "notorious" Abu Salim prison, this may be the appropriate place to post this.

    Freed Libyan prisoner tells his story
    Marghani was taken for interrogation then shipped to Tripoli. He spent 35 days in Abu Salim. The prison housed more than 1,000 inmates and was known for violence. Rebels emptied Abu Salim after seizing the area earlier this month.

    Officers told Marghani he was being charged with helping to burn down a police station and two other building’s belonging to Gaddafi’s oppressive People’s and Revolutionary Committees.

    In fact, it was true. Marghani assumed that informants for the regime had been among the crowd, perhaps even taking part. Even so, he denied any part in the torched buildings.

    ReplyDelete
  27. http://english.aljazeera.net/mritems/Images/2011/2/18/2011218162726159472_20.jpg

    Inside Story Last Modified: 21 Feb 2011 12:59

    Across Libya, protesters are still calling for Muammar Gaddafi to leave.More than 200 anti-government protesters were killed during the last few days of violence in the Libyan city of Benghazi/Source:Al Jazeera

    Jibreel also told Al Jazeera that key cities near Libya’s border with Egypt were now in the hands of protesters, which he said would enable foreign media to now enter the country.
    “Gaddafi’s guards started shooting people in the second day and they shot two people only.

    *

    August 29, 2011 / The chairman of the African Union on Monday accused Libyan rebels of indiscriminately killing black people because they have confused innocent migrant workers with Gadhafi's mercenaries.

    http://www.w54.biz/showthread.php?1236-UK-military-planes-rescue-150-from-Libyan-desert/page36

    National Transitional Council spokesman Abdel-Hafiz Ghoga denied the AU claims.

    "These allegations have been made during the early days of the revolution.

    This never took place."

    ReplyDelete
  28. 23 years later, as Tripoli is about to fall to the Libyan National Army:

    Tripoli Appeals Court drops charges against defendants in "Abu Salim Massacre" case due to statute of limitations

    "After reviewing the documents and after deliberation and review of laws related to criminal procedures and the General Penal Code; the court rules in absentee and in attendance of the accused, that the crime is subject to a statute of limitations" the judge said at the hearing session.

    Around 1269 political prisoners were killed by former Gaddafi regime in 1996 inside Abu Salim Prison in Tripoli.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey! Statute of limitations maybe, and/or lack of evidence. What other actual courts have ever tried to take it seriously to compare this against? HRW wrote a report that was all sure-sounding or whatever, based on an allegedly changing count of daily lunch trays. woopty-doo.

      Delete

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