Status Request: Hala Misrati

March 16, 2012
last edits March 17

She was a tough-as-nails TV personality in Libya, a mouthpiece for the ideals of the Jamihiriya, calling it enemies names, and making them angry. I think she dismissed the pathological liar Eman al-Obeidi, rape victims and human toilet she said, in terms that were a bit rude.

Now Eman is hanging out in the US with Hillary Clinton, and Hala? Captured by rebels who wanted to show her how it felt to have your feelings hurt by mean names. I gather she was raped many times, was shown pregnant in a video, allegedly with a rebel hate child, and now, after some months, not quite nine, I just read that she is dead. Vijay Prashad writes for Counterpunch:

With NATO backing, it was clear that no one was going to either properly investigate the rebel behavior, and no-one was going to allow for a criminal prosecution of those crimes against humanity. Violence of this kind by one’s allies is never to be investigated as the Allies found out after World War 2 when there was no assessment of the criminal firebombing of, for example, Dresden. No wonder that the UN Report notes that the Commissioners are “deeply concerned that no independent investigation or prosecution appear to have been instigated into killings committed by thuwar.” None is likely. There are now over eight thousand pro-Qaddafi fighters in Libyan prisons. They have no charges framed against them. Many have been tortured, and several have died (including Halah al-Misrati, the Qaddafi era newscaster).

So, I've been meaning to post on her for a while now. I don't have the links handy at the moment. I've been bad about updating things later.

If this post is to have much, it may be in the comments, and up to the readers again.

Update 3/17: Whatever Prashad is talking about here (and he's right on in general), contributors say she's apparently alive, free, and in exile in Tunisia. More here perhaps later, more in the comments below already. To spur some, a passing thought question from someone who doesn'tknow the details: Is it possible the whole abduction-rape-pregnancy-then-??? scenario is some kind of PR hoax by the Green Resistance? (Run from Tunisia, I'd think not. Don't Tunis and Tripoli have some kind of Axis of Spring agreement?