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Thursday, April 26, 2012

Sheikh Al-Sadr: Shed Massacre Victim?

April 26, 2012 
(incomplete - last edits May 1)


<< The Khamis Brigade Shed Massacre

 This post will be the spot for all things Musa Sadr, but especially in connection with the allegation he was arrested in Libya in 1978, held secretly for decades until dying in the 1990s, buried somewhere for a decade, dug up and charred alongside the other unidentifiable victims of the August 2011 massacre as Tripoli was falling.

Sheikh Sayyid Musa Al Sadr, the Lebanese Shiite cleric, is widely believed to have been killed in 1978 after disappearing, allegedly, inside Libya. This rumor has been promoted down through the years and kept Lebanon unhappy with the Gaddafi regime, who always denied any such crime. The Lebanese didn't believe it, and this clearly helped motivate them to be the nation that first tabled a no-fly zone against Libya at the Arab League. This first move by non-European imperialists was ostensibly "to stop the violence" and "protect the civilians there," and/or done in the "belief that finally, in the wake of the chaos in Libya, the Lebanese can learn the fate of Imam Musa al-Sadr."[ Guardian] Thus the allegation against Gaddafi, along with so many others, contributed directly to the government's eventual destruction, a whole lot of chaos and mayhem and a nationwide purge, and protection for the militants no one is now able to protect Libyans from.

It took the conquest of Tripoli at least and a mass bloodletting before the Lebanese started getting their pay-off - totally true news about al-Sadr. In October, it was reported that he might have been held and tortured at the Yarmouk shed prison south of Tripoli, and perhaps even buried there. The source is rebel commander and terrorist LIFG founder Abdelhakim Belhaj. [LBC]

Journalist Feras Kilani, photographer Goktay Koraltan, and security man Chris Cobb-Smith of BBC Arabic reported being arrested by the Libyan military near Az Zawiya, accused of being spies. [BBC4] They were taken to a base with an eagle on the gate, Cobb-Smith said at the time, and finally to a “dirty scruffy little compound” behind the base. There they were held in a cage, then a room. Kilani was beaten and his Palestinian people were insulted. Cobb-Smith reported a mock execution they were subjected to shortly before release, and seeing other prisoners shackled, terrified, and speaking of torture. [CNN5]

Another more confusing report suggests Kilani and his team were detained in March after visiting the Yarmouk base itself, to film a documentary about the death of Sheikh al-Sadr. By this, Kilani was surprised to see a man come in with “dogs and special equipment to detect burials,” along with explanations that they were looking for buried bodies. But the newsman investigating the Sheikh’s burial there was threatened not to tell anyone about this, and was arrested, beaten, and released.  [LBC]

Cobb-Smith at least returned to the massacre shed after the rebel victory, and verified it as the same spot that they were held. [CTV]

There was a November 8 interview with "Gaddafi's right hand," Ahmad Ramadan, who was now a rebel (judging by his talking and his shirt) and who "names killers of Moussa Sadr" [video, and thanks to Felix] "Of course I witnessed that he arrived in Libya..." the man started. Even that part needs special corroboration-no one knows whether he was even in Libya at the time. From this pressurised captive's comments, we can be fairly sure he did not arrive in Libya. But that can't be. Consider the amazing(!) news announcement by the NTC's chief Abdul Jalil: Sadr Remains could be Confirmed Soon, Tripoli Post, April 13, 2012
Tripoli-- Mustafa Abdul Jalil, head of Libya’s ruling National Transitional Council (TNC), said on Friday Libyan authorities have obtained “semi-confirmed information” about the presence of Lebanese Imam Moussa Sadr’s body in a recently discovered mass grave in Tripoli. “Imam Sadr’s case was not on the front burner during this period, but some reports have suggested that the imam’s body might be among the bodies buried in a mass grave during the liberation of Tripoli” in August 2011. Abdul Jalil said in an interview on France 24 television.
Ah! I have a hunch it's this one.
Come on, you can't see the resemblance? It must be him!
They seem pretty confident they've either got one of these skeletons identified as his or will be able to in short order. Just how, I'd be curious to know.
He noted that investigators from the office of the public prosecutor in Tripoli were probing the case and that Lebanon had assigned a judge to follow up on the issue, following several visits by Lebanese officials to Libya. “The office of the public prosecutor in Tripoli is in contact with this judge, and God willing these bodies will not be removed from the grave except in the presence of a representative of the Lebanese government, so that the Lebanese can realize that we are serious in this endeavor,” Abdul Jalil added.
What a strange promise. They'll say "no, that's okay. We'll take your word for it." The NTC will take that as a blank check.

Also, they haven't dug up a single body still? Where exactly is this grave, and what ever happened to all the family members who wanted their loved ones' remains identified and sent home? Went away for good as soon as the news cameras left, I presume, with the real families too terrified or dead to ask after their own...

But Lebanon, you did the right thing. Truth is VERY important to you guys, huh? 


Update May 1: a video I've never seen shows Kilani already re-visiting the place on or before October 20, in a report that was eclipsed by the lynching of Muammar Gaddafi and many of his top loyalists. It can be seen here, BBC Arabic, posted the 21st: http://www.bbc.co.uk/arabic/middleeast/2011/10/111020_libya_sadr_farm.shtml or below. It's mostly about Sheikh Al-Sadr, and has an interview with the terrorist warlord of Tripoli Belhaj. So this is the BBC Arabic report cited by the LBC where Belhaj "explains" how this scene of one of his allies' war crimes was in fact the place Al-Sadr was buried and/or dug up and burnt.

47 comments:

  1. Have a look at this video; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkPpH6kXh_4 Exclusive: Gaddafi's right hand names killers of Moussa Sadr , uploaded by Al-Aan on 8 November 2011. Curiouser and curiouser.

    ReplyDelete
  2. "Of course I witnessed that he entered Libya," Ahmed Ramadan in a rebel shirt starts out. I'm suddenly convinced that he was not even in Libya. Sorry, that's all I watched. I'm not convinced the guy is who he says either, but maybe.

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    1. ?

      Ahmed Ramadan Al-Gheryani, a 27-year-old volunteer nurse from Al-Mare, was arrested alongside Ahmed Al-Warfali.
      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17429113

      Delete
  3. a bad treatment for Farag Kilani & co


    other journo's captured about the same time didnt suffer :
    http://jonslattery.blogspot.com/2011/03/libya-says-it-will-free-new-york-times.html
    journo's 18 3 2011
    Tyler Hicks and Lynsey Addario, both photographers; Stephen Farrell, a reporter and videographer; and Anthony Shadid, the Beirut bureau chief.

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    1. I was going to write something about this, Hurriya. (and others) the Hicks & co episode is v.fishy.

      Delete
  4. I was planning to write my own dedicated post on the captured BBC journalists, but maybe I will just post the new information here.

    I found this story only a few weeks ago.
    BBC team's Libya ordeal in their own words

    The team give a very accurate description of the Khamis Brigade shed compound, so there can be no doubt that they were held there for one night, I suppose between March 7th and 8th, 2011. The only thing I found weird was that in the satellite images I had seen no activity at the site until April.

    Goktay: "There was a big iron gate. It looked like a film set, like an execution place. They took us out of the car and in the middle of the compound there was a cage, they put three of us in the cage and the last thing I saw before the door shut, they hit Feras with an AK47. We started hearing him groaning. They turned up the radio, all Gaddafi songs."

    Feras was in the yard in the metal cell, described as something like a prison van but without wheels. One guard believed Feras when he said he was a journalist, and cut off his plastic handcuffs. He spent the night doing what he could for the other prisoners, who were all handcuffed.


    I looked again at the March 7, 2011 photograph, and behold, there are two vehicles at the compound. The time of day is around 10 am, several hours before the BBC team are brought in. There is a van, similar to the white prison transport van seen later parked in front of the "guard house." Near the southwest corner, next to a tree or bush there is another vehicle or object of similar size.

    March 7th 2011 was the final phase of the First Battle of Zawiya. Many rebel captives were brought to the Khamis base, processed, and sent to other prisons.

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  5. I hadn't seen this Reuters photo of the released trio, photographed at the Rixos Hotel on release on 8 March. From
    an Austrian page: BBC cameraman Goktay Koraltan (L) of Turkey returns to the Rixos hotel with his colleagues including Chris Cobb-Smith (3rd R) of Britain and Feras Killani ( 2nd R ), a correspondent of Palestinian descent, after being released from detention in Tripoli 8 March, 2011. REUTERS/str

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Paul Danahar ‏ @pdanahar [BBC Middle East Bureau Chief]
      One of the BBC team Chris Cobb-Smith has just found the cell he was held in at the Khamis brigade HQ #Tripoli #Libya in March
      2:07 PM - 28 Aug 11 via Twitter for iPhone ·


      Paul Danahar ‏ @pdanahar
      We now know warehouse near Khamis Brigade HQ where civilians executed by #Gaddafi army is same place BBC team tortured in March. #Libya
      2:06 PM - 28 Aug 11 via Twitter for iPhone ·

      Delete
    2. I think the journalists would deserve a post at some point. The subject of Al-Sadr might too, but connecting to the war, I suppose this is a good enough main spot for him.

      Too bad the photo doesn't confirm Kilani's injuries. I imagine he was beaten, and it must've been by Gaddafi loyalists, but both/all versions of how it happened carry a whiff of propaganda. Certainly the version where they went there first to investigate the Sheikh is just bizarre and stupid.

      Delete
    3. "Too bad the photo doesn't confirm Kilani's injuries. I imagine he was beaten, and it must've been by Gaddafi loyalists, but both/all versions of how it happened carry a whiff of propaganda."

      A whiff of propaganda??? A Libyan soldier, a Jamahiriya soldier, appears to have over-reacted.

      If a US soldier brutalizes an Afghan peasant, we wouldn't say the crime was committed by an "Obama loyalist," would we?

      The team was tortured? Team??? It sounds like one guy was hit.

      Keeping them there for one day, when they were suspected of being spies, does not seem horrible behavior at all.

      "Goktay: 'There was a big iron gate. It looked like a film set, like an execution place.'" Looks like an execution place? Is Goktay working for the BBC or MI-6?

      I enjoyed the humor of this post, especially the strong resemblance--I mean, who could miss it?--between Sheikh al-Sadr and the skull.

      Finally, can someone post one, JUST ONE, important, TRUTHFUL statement from Abdul Jalil.

      Art Bethea

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    4. Ha! Thanks for that, Art. Indeed, who do they work for? Is it the kind of thing that was designed to help get Libyans killed? One way or another, for sure. It all was. It's not so much the beating that's hard to believe as all the rest of it.

      Yeah, someone should do a post on those guys. I've been re-formatting the dead outside the shed info, and man did it get late, again.

      Delete
    5. @ caustic :I think the journalists would deserve a post at some point.


      In Hilsum's words, Libya was the "only true revolution of last year - where the whole apparatus of state was overturned."
      http://www.frontlineclub.com/blogs/theforum/2012/04/writing-libyas-revolution.html

      Delete
  6. Re Cobb-Smith & Co - there is another BBC story here, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12695077, but with added audio interview link (with CCS). I will listen and transcribe soon.The accompanying text is also different, including, for example, this piece from Killani: I spent at least six hours helping them [four other detainees] drink, sleep, urinate and move from one side to another."

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  7. A few words on the possible politics of the Lebanese-“Khamis Shed” skullduggery.

    Lebanon introduced the Orwellian No-Fly-Zone resolution. Obviously, many Lebanese must be pissed off about their government introducing what was used as a regime-change resolution against another Arab nation. Maybe the skullduggery in “Khamis’ shed” is designed to give Lebanese politicians something to tell the masses: “It’s a good thing we introduced that regime-change—uh, I mean, no-fly zone resolution. Otherwise, we would have never found the head of the dear departed Sheikh al-Sadr, whom the EVIL, REALLY EVIL TYRANT Qaddafi murdered. We knew it was Sheikh al-Sadr immediately. Who could miss the Islamic purity shining from his noble skull? Indeed, we could almost hear his departed lips whispering: ‘Qaddafi did me wrong.’”

    Irony aside, does anyone know what Qaddafi’s purported motive for dispatching the Islamic cleric would have been?

    Art Bethea

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  8. I am posting this here, as this is where the BBC team has been discussed. (Published about 17 minutes ago.)

    The massacre at Libya's Khalat al-Farjan compound
    By Feras Kilani, 30 April 2012

    The escapee Hussein al-Lafi speaks. BBC is also broadcasting a program later today:
    Libya's Torture Farms will be screened on BBC Arabic TV on Monday 30 April, 2012 at 19:07 GMT

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    1. Wow that's quite a piece! Only Kilani has the credibility to challenge us except he didn't develop any super powers by getting beat up there. Just like PHR, hoodwinked by the Az Zawiyah escapees and prisoners freak show. I was writing a post, but the text disappeared on me three times. I'm drafting a fourth in Word now. Supposed to be a quick job...

      Delete
  9. 16 March 2011
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/16/libya-lebanon-un-security-council-resolution

    Last month a former colonel in Gaddafi's army said Libyan agents had assassinated Sadr and buried him in the southern city of Sabha.
    Abdel-Monem al-Houni, a former colonel in the Libyan army who participated in the 1969 coup that brought Gaddafi to power, has broken a three-decade silence to declare that Sadr was shot and killed on the orders of the Libyan leader.
    http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/073beuFaf114L/610x.jpg

    -Arab League Ambassador Abdelmonem al-Houni
    In Cairo, Libya's Arab League representative Abdel-Monem al-Houni said he told the Foreign Ministry in Tripoli that he had "resigned from all his duties and joined the popular revolution."
    -The Bengasi-based TNC's spokesman Abdel Monem al-Houni said on Thursday.
    -The Egyptian government also gave assistance to former RCC members Major Abd al Munim al Huni and Omar Muhayshi, who unsuccessfully tried to overthrow Gaddafi in 1975 and allowed them to reside in Egypt


    But the Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper offered a ray of hope, quoting a Libyan dissident, Issa Abdul Majid Mansour, as saying that Sadr was alive in a prison in Sabha. If he is still alive, he would be 82 years old today.

    http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2045328_2045333_2053630,00.html #ixzz1uld36ciJ
    However the story became even more complex when a Libyan opposition activist, Sami al-Masrati, claimed Sadr was still alive.

    ReplyDelete
  10. 16 March 2011
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/16/libya-lebanon-un-security-council-resolution

    Last month a former colonel in Gaddafi's army said Libyan agents had assassinated Sadr and buried him in the southern city of Sabha.
    Abdel-Monem al-Houni, a former colonel in the Libyan army who participated in the 1969 coup that brought Gaddafi to power, has broken a three-decade silence to declare that Sadr was shot and killed on the orders of the Libyan leader.
    http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/073beuFaf114L/610x.jpg

    -Arab League Ambassador Abdelmonem al-Houni
    In Cairo, Libya's Arab League representative Abdel-Monem al-Houni said he told the Foreign Ministry in Tripoli that he had "resigned from all his duties and joined the popular revolution."
    -The Bengasi-based TNC's spokesman Abdel Monem al-Houni said on Thursday.
    -The Egyptian government also gave assistance to former RCC members Major Abd al Munim al Huni and Omar Muhayshi, who unsuccessfully tried to overthrow Gaddafi in 1975 and allowed them to reside in Egypt


    But the Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat newspaper offered a ray of hope, quoting a Libyan dissident, Issa Abdul Majid Mansour, as saying that Sadr was alive in a prison in Sabha. If he is still alive, he would be 82 years old today.

    http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2045328_2045333_2053630,00.html #ixzz1uld36ciJ
    However the story became even more complex when a Libyan opposition activist, Sami al-Masrati, claimed Sadr was still alive.

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    1. sorry for 2posting : every time message : server unavailable , error

      Delete
    2. Arab League Ambassador Abdelmonem al-Houni

      THe World Medical Camp for Libya seems to have been founded before 22 February 2011 by Ekram El-Huni and others.

      Delete
  11. 20/06/2011
    Both the Libyan National Transitional Council [NTC] and the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood [MB] have rejected attempts by Muammar Gaddafi to negotiate

    Abdul-Munim al-Huni, the NTC representative to Egypt and the Arab League
    said that a few weeks ago, he personally met with representatives of the Islamic Society, led by Dr Ahmad al-Sharif.

    They told him that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, Colonel Gaddafi's second son, backs the idea of the possibility of seeking a fatwa from a number of religious scholars in Libya on what is happening, and to act as arbitrators in the current disputes between Gaddafi and the NTC, which is headquartered in the liberated city of Benghazi.
    http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=1&id=25598

    ReplyDelete
  12. from the horse's mouth:
    FromJoanne Joanne ♌ Leo
    #Libya Government Spox Nasser #alMana'a on thurs. said #Lebanon Imam #Sadr’s remains were moved2 a #Tripoli hospital 4 a DNA test
    12:23 PM Apr 13th


    *the interim government’s official spokesman, Nasser Al-Mana, beating the official story by a day...

    Libyan investigators carry out DNA tests in search for missing imam

    Saturday, 14 April 2012


    Libya has "semi-confirmed information" about location of Musa Sadr remains. Semi-confirmed = the new somewhat pregnant. http://t.co/p0NeWl9r
    DavidKenner Apr 13, 2012 22:00:22 GMT


    AlArabiya_Eng : Libyan investigators carry out DNA tests in search for missing imam http://t.co/UsMnZ5lB 1 month 7 days ago
    more »
    5 retweets | 1 replies
    Libyan investigators carry out DNA tests in searc for missing imam

    Investigators are carrying out DNA tests on remains that could belong to Lebanese Imam Musa Sadr, who mysteriously disappeared in Libya more than 33 years ago, an off ...

    english.alarabiya.net
    @libyansrevolt libyansrevolt : @AJArabic reporting that Lebanese cleric Musa Sadr's body potentially found - awaiting further DNA tests on body #Libya 1 month 10 days ago
    more »
    5 retweets
    @ChangeInLibya ChangeInLibya : BREAKING: MUSA SADR: Ministry of Martyrs and Injured is investigating a body found in Tripoli which may belong to the Imam. #libya #lebanon 1 month 10 days ago
    more »
    1 replies
    @mattduss mattduss : New info suggests Musa Sadr was kept alive in Libyan detention through 2000, Gaddafi ordered body frozen after death. http://t.co/R9r6UFXy 1 month 25 days ago

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    1. Note that the Lebanese side of the story is slightly different:[Naharnet, Apr 13 2012] Libya Has 'Semi-Confirmed' Info Sadr's Remains in Tripoli Mass Grave
      “During the discussions I had with the investigators probing the case, who are among the best in Libya’s judiciary, I obtained semi-confirmed information about the presence of Imam Sadr’s body among the bodies contained by this mass grave," [Abdul Jibril] Hoever, [Lebanese] Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour issued a statement saying Abdul Jalil’s remarks were “inaccurate” and that “there is no decisive evidence confirming the information’s accuracy.”

      Delete
    2. Even more fanciful: Moussa al-Sadr: Clues Across the Sahara, March 27 2012, Al-Akhbar. (but see comments)
      The official narrative about the frozen body until Aug 2011 is fanciful...

      Delete
  13. Imam (Ayatollah) Musa Sadr’s mysterious disappearance in Libya - his body was never found- opened the way for Khomeini to invade Iran, which accurately describes the action of a foreigner like Khomeini taking over a country in which he (Khomeini) was neither born nor had any Persian blood in his veins at all, paternally or maternally.

     9. Reportedly, in 1979, Khomeini was flown from France to Iran, with the help of the British Intelligence Service, MI6. He took over Iran.

    In 1979, Imam (Ayatollah) Mussa Sadr disappeared during a visit to Libya. Imam Mussa Sadr was the Iranian-born leader of the Lebanese Shia and he "was revered and respected above all others in the Shia world."
    http://www.discoveringislam.org/Khomeini_british_agent.htm

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    1. An Iranian lawmaker says new documents provided by the family of Shia cleric Imam Moussa Sadr, who went missing in Libya, show that he is still alive.


      Mohammad Karamirad added on Sunday that a delegation representing the Lebanese Amal Movement, headed by Khalil Hamdan, had been invited to Iran by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

      Meanwhile, another Iranian lawmaker said the Article 90 Committee of the Iranian Majlis (parliament) has discussed the case of Moussa Sadr in its latest session.

      Lawmaker Seyyed Fazel Mousavi, told the official Majlis news agency, ICANA, on Sunday that the Lebanese delegates had also attended the session and that both sides had agreed to form a joint committee to investigate the fate of Moussa Sadr more seriously.

      Member of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Javad Karimi Qoddousi announced Majlis plans to send a delegation to Libya to investigate the fate of Sadr./Sun Aug 28, 2011

      http://www.presstv.ir/detail/196269.html

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    2. http://www.army.mil/professionalWriting/volumes/volume4/november_2006/11_06_1.html

      There have been countless rumours about Sadr’s fate. None has been confirmed. Last year, his son Sadreddine told the National News Agency in Beirut that his father and his two companions were alive in a Libyan prison. ‘We say it out loud,’ the Hizbullah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, said soon afterwards.
      ‘Imam Sadr and his two companions are being held in Libya and they should be released.’
      Sadreddine Sadr did not reveal his sources, but early in this year’s revolt a Libyan opposition figure said that Sadr remained in Libyan custody. The prisons opened by the Transitional National Council have so far not produced the missing imam, who would now be 83.

      Hizbullah’s opposition to Gaddafi set it at odds with its backers in Damascus, whose Baathist regime fostered friendly relations with the Libyan leader. It also put Hizbullah, for the past few months, in alliance with Nato
      http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2011/10/24/charles-glass/hizbullahs-part-in-gaddafis-downfall/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=3321&hq_e=el&hq_m=1225674&hq_l=7&hq_v=4818ac8116

      Delete
  14. It is AFP's Dominique Soguel who is on the case of the Imam: reported in the Daily Star, Lebanon,April 14 2012:
    “We are testing the DNA of three separate bodies,” said Esam Zregi, who heads the department for documentation and sample collections, adding that the final results would be ready in four to six weeks. (as reported in the anonymous Al-Arabiya AFP link in the tweet above).
    [Zregi] said that the bodies were found in a graveyard -- and not a mass grave as some media reported -- in the suburb of Tajura, near Tripoli, thanks to a tip-off given by former regime associates.

    Well, the 4-6 weeks are nearly up...over to Ms Soguel.

    ReplyDelete
  15. http://www.islamtimes.org/vdcjioevhuqeyaz.92fu.html

    The unit tried to prevent the team from shooting, and it later became clear through talking with its members that they were on a mission to search for buried bodies in the farm which is 20 kilometers south of the Libyan capital.

    The BBC correspondent talked to the president of the Military Council in Tripoli, Abdul Hakim Balhaj, who said that there is outdated information that had been received that the Imam Al-Sadr “was transferred to Sebha, and then we were told that he was buried in Al-Qalaa.

    However, new information point out that he is present in one of the farms.” He added: “we are following up with the information and we want to reach the truth, and when we do we will announce it in a timely manner.”

    The BBC correspondent became aware that the farm being searched contained corpses which are believed to belong to Libyan opposition and African figures.

    ReplyDelete
  16. http://www.activistpost.com/2011/08/rumors-and-violence-sweep-and-define.html

    Many rumors are heard the past couple of days about the fate of Lebanon’s Imam Musa Sadr who disappeared this month 33 years ago while in Libya for talks on supporting the resistance against the Israeli occupation and to attend the September 1, Great Fatah Revolution, annual celebration.

    Two individuals who claim to have been present are talking about the killing of Musa Sadr and one is actually offering the buried remains of Musa Sadr and his companions, Sheikh Mohammed Yaacoub and journalist Abbas Badreddine!

    Kaddafi’s boyhood friend, and Libya’s longtime “Number Two Leader”, Abdel Salem Jalloud, according to one of his cousins here, claims the remains are in the Southern Libyan Desert.

    Why Musa Sadr was killed, if the story about his death was true, also is the subject of much “inside information” by government officials and others here.

    One high ranking Libyan official who represented this country in several countries over the past quarter century claims that when the truth comes out about who petitioned the Kaddafi regime to eliminate Imam Sadr, it will condemn certain Lebanese and non-Lebanese officials.

    It appears that given the interest in the subject of Imam Musa Sadr and his associates, and the number of living officials and witnesses who claimed knowledge of the events surrounding his not-yet-confirmed-death that the truth behind his disappearance may finally emerge before long.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Recently (Tuesday, July 24, 2012), the English channel of Al Jazeera International aired a program about the case Moussa Sadr on which we have already published a first and necessary development because of the international confusion on this subject.

    The "definitive proof" would be a video of poor quality in which a man wearing a T-shirt with the flag colors of the CNT / NATO reported hearing Muammar al-Gaddafi order the execution [2 and 3 ] ...

    However, Al-Jazeera, known for its intense military mobilization and cooperation with NATO with plots against Libya and Syria, announced a conclusion in their [ Moussa Sadr ]report that the DNA analysis of human remains, presented as courtesy by the CNT / NATO as those of the clergyman-Lebanon had proved negative ...

    http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/world-news/africa-libya/238573177?client_source=feed&format=rss&sb=1

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  18. By inflamed situation in Libya and popular uprising against savage Muammar Gaddafi, various speculations on survival or martyrdom of Imam Sadr were presented.

    In news published in world media in early days of Libya’s uprising, “Al-Hayat” quoted Al-Hawni in an interview that in early days after kidnapping Imam Sadr, Gaddafi has missioned Nijmeddin Yazji, the pilot of his private jet, to move the body of Imam Sadr who had been martyred by his hirelings to an unknown spot. This newspaper also claimed that Yazaji’s family is aware of this news.

    http://www.irdc.ir/en/content/13998/print.aspx

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  19. Coincidental the name Al-Hawni pops up too in an article of the British barrister Philippe Sands, an international-law specialist representing Libya’s government.

    http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2011/08/qaddafi-201108

    The accomplishe :


    from November 2010 to February 2011, al-Hawni was more or less constantly at Saif’s side. They spent time in Tripoli and Rome, and also in Austria, Germany, and Moldova.

    Saif called him on February 16: “There’s a problem. It’s better if you come.” Al-Hawni flew to Tripoli the next day

    A couple of hours later Saif came down. He and al-Hawni talked until the early hours of the morning about the protests, the Benghazi killings,

    Al-Hawni described what happened next:
    “I take the telephone of Saif, and I call Abdullah Senussi, and he picks up. I say, ‘I am with Saif, and I heard that you shot protesters.’ ‘Yes,’ he says to me. ‘What can I do? They want to come inside the barracks, to take arms.’ I said, ‘Abdullah, please, if it’s necessary to shoot, don’t shoot in the head. These persons, they have legs.’”

    “Stop the killing,” al-Hawni said he told Saif. “Order them to come to Tripoli, not to stay in Benghazi

    But Saif did nothing

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    1. Monday 18 June 2012

      In the summer resort of Taif, King Abdullah yesterday received a number of Saudi and foreign dignitaries, who came to convey their condolences on the death of Prince Naif.

      {..]and Vice Chairman of Libyan National Council Mustafa Al-Hawni.

      Delete
  20. more al hawni , might be another 1 :

    As anti-government forces gain momentum, some analysts are now floating the names of others who might replace Col. Gadhafi:

    Abdulmun’im al-Hawni

    *

    “Gadhafi is the same as the other Arab dictators. He ensured there was no viable person to take over other than his son,” said Mona Eltahawy, a Middle East observer.

    “It’s almost impossible to imagine who would come after him. ... We have to ensure it does not become a Gadhafi after Gadhafi after Gadhafi,” she added.

    *

    Libya’s former representative to the Arab League resigned this week, signaling his break with the Gadhafi regime.

    According to a Stratfor report, Mr. al-Hawni allegedly took part in a failed army coup against Col. Gadhafi in 1975.
    He subsequently sought asylum in Egypt. Ten years ago, former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak arranged for his return to Libya through mediation with Col. Gadhafi.

    Mr. al-Hawni was later appointed to his post at the Arab League.

    http://www.www.africanoutlookonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1178%3Alibyas-leaders-in-waiting-&Itemid=618

    ReplyDelete
  21. Al Sadr 's body 22 august 2011

    http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/5685

    7) While Tripoli fell to the rebels on 22 August 2011, Abu Salim was heavily shelled.
    The bombing targeted the location of Abdul Hamid’s office above al-Sadr’s cell.
    The electricity supply was cut off due to the bombing and the prison cell was destroyed completely.

    The information received says that al-Sadr’s body was carried to the prison yard along with those killed in the assault.

    8) The revolutionaries entered Tripoli after several days of chaos in the capital, especially in the regime’s military and security complexes. When officials from the revolutionary groups reached Abu Salim, they found that the bodies had been transferred to an unknown location.

    Preliminary investigations about the whereabouts of al-Sadr’s body began to uncover a number of leads. His body was thought to have been transferred to the central hospital in Tripoli. This was discovered to be untrue.

    According to a different account of the fall of Tripoli, the bodies remained in the prison yard for several days.

    ReplyDelete
  22. http://www.mathaba.net/news/?x=631301

    5 september 2012 “Senussi was flown into Metiga airbase early this afternoon and transferred by helicopter to Hadba Al-Khadra prison”, said Mohammed Gwaider, the prison governor.

    *
    Libyan National Guard head, Khalid al-Sharif

    http://www.cageprisoners.com/our-work/opinion-editorial/item/513-ex-guantanamo-prisoner-freed-in-libya-after-three-years-detention-and-information-about-ghost-prisoners
    *

    http://www.asharq-e.com/news.asp?section=3&id=31151

    20/09/2012 Yesterday, there were reports that Abdullah al-Senussi had been transferred to hospital as a result of torture. Is this true?

    [al-Sharif] These stories are completely untrue.

    http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K36qO8js2WE/UGi_uzN_UqI/AAAAAAAAOFA/zgHR0Dfniwk/s1600/sanussi.jpg

    ReplyDelete
  23. 9 september 2012

    inagist.com/all/244883395476344832/ - In cache

    News that Abullah #Senousi has confessed where Mansour #Kikhia was buried -- https://t.co/AoIgjXRe #Libya

    *
    @FromJoanne : Unconfirmed reports that Mansour #Kikhia remains were found Abducted in #Cairo #Egypt 1993 #GaddafiCrimes #Libya via #MaghmoudShammam

    ReplyDelete
  24. September 10, 2012 at 12:16 pm /

    Regarding the identification of the body of the martyr Mansoor alkikhia … Mr. Mahmoud Rasheed Alkikhia informed me brother the late great that Dr. Mohamed almagriaf, President of the General Conference had told him he found the body believed to be his body Mansour alkikhia and it will make sure through DNA analysis.

    According to information available to the belief that Mansur died in 1997 and was buried in the garden of the Villa which was detained. Mansur has been kidnapped from Cairo December 10, 1993. God’s mercy (Translated by Bing)

    http://libya.tv/en/reports-indiciate-mansour-kikhia-body-found/

    In 1993, eyewitnesses at the time reported that he was abducted by three men in a black limousine with diplomatic license plate a few yards from the Cairo Hotel Safir where he was staying.

    Neither the Egyptian nor the Libyan authorities have issued reports or claimed responsibility regarding this forced disappearance, ever.

    A four-year investigation conducted by the CIA produced convincing evidence that Egyptian agents staged the abduction and then handed over al-Kikhia to the Libyan authorities, who executed him.

    Reports also indicte that the body was initially thought to be of Imam Musa al-Sadr who dissapeared in Libya in 1978.

    ReplyDelete
  25. 28 November 2012 Mansour al-Kikhia

    http://allafrica.com/stories/201211291455.html

    — The identification of the missing minister's corpse ended one mystery and awakened another.

    After 19 years of mystery, the disappearance of former Libyan diplomat Mansour al-Kikhia was solved on November 15th.

    When three bodies were found buried at the Libyan intelligence headquarters in central Tripoli last April, it was initially thought that the corpses were those of missing Lebanese imam Moussa al-Sadr and his two companions.
    *
    Rashid said that General National Congress head Mohamed Magarief had reached out to the family following the discovery of the bodies.

    Investigations were conducted with former Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, where he confirmed the identity of the body.

    He said that they had been preserving the remains in a fridge, until the fall of the regime, when it was buried.

    Rashid al-Kikhia thanked all committees involved in the investigation of his uncle's fate, and he especially thanked current Libyan intelligence chief Salem al-Hasi.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Salem al-Hasi, who has lived in the United States since being part of an abortive attempt to kill Gadhafi in the 1980s, said [Haftar can make a difference "as long as he gets the support, supplies and weapons." ]

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. a small timeline 1985-1993 Some players pop up in 2012 again :

      1985 Mohammed Youssef Al-Magrief, and his companion Ali Abdullah Al-Darrat.
      In the summer of 1985 the "Washington Post" published on its front page a long article by Bob Woodward and Paul Bandwarfok which reported that the US State Department had taken extraordinary actions in the summer of 1985, including sending for the American ambassador to Egypt and putting him in charge of a covert operation.

      According to the article, an American-Egyptian military action directed from the White House, whose purpose was an Egyptian invasion of Libya and the occupation of one-half of Libya's territory with American assistance, was to be cancelled.
      This plan had aimed at removing Qadhafi from power.
      *
      A man calling himself "Khalifa Haftar" admitted this quite openly in an interview for "Al-Hayat" on 19 December 1991:

      He added that the Americans had declared that they were fully prepared to offer every type of training for air and ground operations against the Jamahiriya.
      http://www.mathaba.net/info/terror.htm

      *
      In 1993, eyewitnesses at the time reported that he was abducted by three men in a black limousine with diplomatic license plate a few yards from the Cairo Hotel Safir where he was staying.

      Neither the Egyptian nor the Libyan authorities have issued reports or claimed responsibility regarding this forced disappearance, ever.
      A four-year investigation conducted by the CIA produced convincing evidence that Egyptian agents staged the abduction and then handed over al-Kikhia to the Libyan authorities, who executed him.

      *
      September 10, 2012 at 12:16 pm / Regarding the identification of the body of the martyr Mansoor alkikhia … Mr. Mahmoud Rasheed Alkikhia informed me that Dr. Mohamed almagriaf, President of the General Conference had told him he found the body believed to be the body of Mansour alkikhia and will make it sure through DNA analysis

      Delete
  27. http://212.159.242.181/iccdocs/doc/doc1073269.pdf
    LIBYA'S QADDAJFI
    The Politics of Contradiction
    Mansour O. El-Kikhia

    *

    http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-march-28-2011/mansour-o--el-kikhia

    Mansour O. El-Kikhia thanks President Obama for striking against Gaddafi's forces in Libya.

    http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2011/s3347487.htm

    ReplyDelete
  28. Then in Libya that the bodies of victims of heinous crimes, against Sadr as against the inmates of the prison of Abu Salim, are never found dont seem to bother the public opinion

    http://www.scoop.it/t/livya/p/3529880013/injustice-in-libya-the-abdullahalsenussi-and-daughter-case

    http://www.microsofttranslator.com/bv.aspx?from=it&to=en&a=http://mcc43.wordpress.com/2012/11/29/lingiusta-giustizia-della-nuova-libia/

    ReplyDelete
  29. Mohamed almagriaf had told him he found the body believed to be the body of Mansour alkikhia and will make it sure through DNA analysis

    Something apparently went wrong DNA analysis :

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKSPc1Jlnnk&feature=endscreen&NR=1
    القذافى يحتفظ بجثة الشخص الذى حاول اغتياله منذ25عام
    Gaddafi keeps body of the person who tried to assassinate 25 years ago

    *

    Al-Hawni
    “Al-Hayat” quoted Al-Hawni in an interview that in early days after kidnapping Imam Sadr,
    By inflamed situation in Libya and popular uprising against savage Muammar Gaddafi, various speculations on survival or martyrdom of Imam Sadr were presented.

    In news published in world media in early days of Libya’s uprising, “Al-Hayat” quoted Al-Hawni in an interview that in early days after kidnapping Imam Sadr, Gaddafi has missioned Nijmeddin Yazji, the pilot of his private jet, to move the body of Imam Sadr who had been martyred by his hirelings to an unknown spot.

    http://www.irdc.ir/en/content/13998/print.aspx

    *
    Top Qaddafi foe to be buried 19 years later
    http://www.arabnews.com/top-qaddafi-foe-be-buried-19-years-later

    ReplyDelete
  30. Remains found in Libya do not belong to Imam Sadr: statement
    Tehran Times - ‎24 June 2012‎

    TEHRAN – The committee tasked with pursuing the fate of Imam Musa al-Sadr, an Iranian-born Shia cleric who vanished
    without a trace in Libya in 1978, has denied recent reports that remains believed to be those of him had been discovered in
    Libya.

    Remains found in Libya do not belong to Imam Sadr: statement
    c_330_235_16777215_0___images_stories_edim_02_sadr.jpg

    TEHRAN - The committee tasked with pursuing the fate of Imam Musa al-Sadr, an Iranian-born Shia cleric who vanishedwithout a trace in Libya in 1978, has denied recent reports that remains believed to be those of him had been discovered in Libya.

    The committee made the announcement in a statement published on Sunday in response to recent remarks by Mustafa Abdul Jalil,
    the chairman of the National Transitional Council of Libya,
    in which he said that Libyan authorities had sent Lebanon a DNA sample of a “dead body which is thought to be that of Imam Sadr,” who departed for Libya in August 1978 with two companions to meet officials of former Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s government but were
    never heard from again.

    The committee wrote, “According to the test results, the clothes and belongings that have been mentioned in Abdul Jalil’s recent remarks do not belong to Imam Sadr and his companions.”


    Abdul Jalil, in an interview with Al Arabiya television news channel broadcast on Friday, stated, “Investigations revealed
    that Imam Musa Sadr did not travel from Libya (to Italy), and we were able to identify the people who left the country and pretended to be Sadr and his two other colleagues.”

    Abdul Jalil also commented on the discovery of a mass grave in Libya, saying the country’s officials had discovered
    the clothes of Imam Sadr.

    He added, “We believe the body of Imam Moussa Sadr is among the other bodies in the mass grave.”

    A judicial security committee was formed in Lebanon to follow up on DNA tests of the sample from Libya, a judicial source told the Daily Star.

    In August 2008, Lebanon issued an arrest warrant for Qaddafi and 11 other Libyan officials, charging them with kidnapping Sadr.
    Qaddafi was also indicted for “inciting the abduction” of the senior cleric.
    Libya denied responsibility at the time, claiming that Sadr and his companions left Libya for Italy in 1978.

    Muammar al-Qathafi proclaims total innocence concerning Mussa Sadr.

    Jalil is known to lie deceivingly, with great hatred toward Muammar al-Qathafi

    ReplyDelete
  31. Last Tuesday marked the anniversary of the disappearance of Shia cleric Moussa as-Sadr—often dubbed the father of the Shia resurgence in Lebanon—during a visit to Libya in 1978. While the view assigning responsibility for his disappearance to the regime of Moammar Qaddafi is a matter of general consensus, another less-discussed angle involving early factional infighting among Iran’s Islamic revolutionary cadres deserves attention for its critical impact on the outcome of the Islamic Revolution, both in Iran and in Lebanon.

    The consensus view rightly holds that Sadr’s relations with the Palestinian Liberation movement in Lebanon and its allies (both local and regional) and weapons suppliers (such as Libya), had become irreparable by 1978, especially after Israel’s Operation Litani against the Palestinians had inflicted much damage on the Shia residents of southern Lebanon who were stuck in the middle. By then, Sadr’s pronouncements against the Palestinians had become regular, and the Libyan-funded press in Beirut attacked him constantly. Consequently, they had every motive to eliminate him.

    Nevertheless, reference to the possible involvement (often characterized as indirect) or collusion of Ayatollah Khomeini and some of his closest associates in Sadr’s disappearance can be found in the relevant literature, ranging from personal memoirs of former Iranian officials, such as Shapur Bakhtiar, to books and articles on the Amal Movement (established by Sadr, and whose existence was made public in 1975), on Sadr himself, as well as on Iranian-Lebanese and Iranian-Syrian relations.

    For example, in Syria and Iran, Jubin Goodarzi cites a former Iranian official “intimately involved with Lebanese affairs” to corroborate his statement that “Khomeini had had an indirect role in the elimination of Musa Sadr, whom he despised.” Khomeini, according to Goodarzi’s source, “intentionally misinformed Qadhafi that Musa Sadr had used financial aid provided by Libya for his own personal gain.”

    Several authors have pointed out the ambiguous relationship between Sadr and Khomeini and the personal tensions that existed between them (and Khomeini’s entourage) as well. For example, at the 40-day memorial service of the Iranian ideologue Ali Shariati in 1977, over which Sadr presided, he did not allow any pictures of Khomeini to be put up, and only conceded to one small picture after being pressured by one of Khomeini’s most radical associates, Mohammad Montazeri – a close ally of Qaddafi and an advocate of strong ties with Libya and the Palestine Liberation Organization, and whose father was one of the main architects behind the creation of Hezbollah.

    But why would Khomeini and some of his associates have an interest in Sadr’s removal from the scene, when he had been a supporter of Iranian revolutionary cadres, having helped provide them with access to training and sanctuary in Lebanon? The answers may lie in a factional power struggle within the early revolutionary cadres, which intensified in the immediate years after the success of the Islamic Revolution, between 1979 and 1981, and the differences they had regarding the trajectory of the revolution and its alliances abroad.


    https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/commentaryanalysis/moussa_sadr_and_the_islamic_revolution_in_iran_and_lebanon

    ReplyDelete

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