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Why has my father’s murder gone unpunished?

26 August 2009
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Huda Abuzeid, whose father was killed by the Libyan regime, says that we must not turn a blind eye to its acts of intimidation and violence

There is a joke about Libya which goes something like this: why does Libya has a population of both six million and four million? The answer is that one million are abroad and the other million are in prison.

It’s not a funny joke, but it’s a revealing one. As the country prepares to celebrate 40 years of Muammar Gaddafi’s rule, and despite various of our politicians desperately trying to tell us how much Libya has changed and the numerous Sunday supplement articles extolling the virtues of Libya as a holiday destination, Libya remains one of the most intolerant, totalitarian and repressive regimes in the world. Libyan citizens regularly ‘disappear’ — arrested by the authorities. Their loved ones are often left in the dark.

Since 2003 Libya has been extolled by Britain as an example of a reformed state. Tony Blair was quick to take the credit, rushing over to Gaddafi and saying, ‘People should not forget the past, they should move beyond it.’

On hearing that, I felt physically sick. With that one sound-bite, Libyans inside the country and those who like me were living abroad knew that the political will to push for justice in the many unresolved cases was lost.

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Comments Post comment

Bickers

August 27th, 2009 10:46am Report this comment

Excellent article - we and our political representatives should be ashamed of ourselves for allowing profit to trump justice.

Of course, if politicians and the media (the BBC in particular) stopped their hysteria about non existant man made global warming and 'danggerous' climate change and allowed (in the US especially) more drilling & mining of fossil fuels we could turn our backs on Middle East oil supplies (to a large measure) - now that would put pressure on them to reform - think about that Greenpeace/IPCC next time you produce scaremongering, manipulated figures about AGW

N

August 27th, 2009 4:57pm Report this comment

Huda Abuzeid,

My sympathies to your family. Greed and corruption on horrible things in leaders. If my memory is correct, Libya has oil, thus the reason why Tony Blair loved(es) Gaddafi. It's why Saudi Arabia has horrible human rights abuses yet the US "overlooks" them because we get oil. I saw a documentary a while back about Afghanistan. Hamid Karzai used all of his power to get an Italian prisoner held by the Taliban freed, because it was great PR and "established relations" with Italy. Yet what does Karzai do for his own people held hostage by the Taliban? Nothing. We live in a sad world.

alleebia

August 30th, 2009 7:51pm Report this comment

Dear Huda, you have done the right thing by writing this article, and thank you for highlighting some of the misery of the libyan people under this dictator regime. If all libyans who lost a father, a brother or a husband, or have been exiled by Gaddafi's regime, come out and speak as you did, no one would dare to to link their name to his, and Gaddafi would have a lot to answer. I add my voice to yours, and keep up the work. thank you.

Abdullah

August 31st, 2009 2:01pm Report this comment

Wonderful article. your father was right to say the change in Libya ought to come from within. Western Governments have two friends in the middle east that are Israel and OIl. Western are cynical about Human Rights issue in the Arab world. as matter of fact they have created these dictators to look after their interest

Pufris

August 31st, 2009 3:07pm Report this comment

Huda,
If I remember correctly, Gaddafi was murdering Libyans everywhere in Europe before his thugs shot the British policewoman by mistake and thus drawing the wrath of the British government at the time. In other words, Gaddafi was just a mischievous rascal when he was deliberately killing Libyans, but he became a monster when by error he killed a European woman. That says volumes about the racist attitudes about Europeans in general and the Northern ones in specific. You see they are brought up with an absolute sense of superiority that is passed on from one generation to the other. The Europeans have another problem and that is their love of money, otherwise how could they take money from a guy who killed their kin in airplanes and on the ground. As you may have found out already on your own, rest assured that no one in Britain looked at your Dad's life or yours for that matter, as a British life worth fighting for. Anyone whose ancestors were not Europeans can live in Europe for a million years but he/she will never be thought of as a real Europeans. The Jewish folks have realized that but only after six million of them perished at the racist European hands. I hope that is a lesson all non-European will learn quickly so they can start acting to protect their lives and interests on their own and not rely on slimy politicians like Tony Blair.
With my condolences and best of luck in your endeavor to get justice for your dad.

kato

August 31st, 2009 10:09pm Report this comment

Huda, this is an excellent description of an individual's encounters with the tyrannical and oppressive Libyan regime. Keep up the good work. The UK and US governments ignore human rights malpractice in many countries whose business/oil they are interested in. It is up to individual Libyans abroad like yourself to make these things known and work for change on behalf of those still in Libya.

Ahmed

September 2nd, 2009 6:16am Report this comment

We have to arrest Qadhafi and take him to jell, and let the trial tell what he deserves..This is the only solution if there is a mininum of justice and human rights.
And don't forget the prisoners who were killede by Qadhafi's regime in 4 hours in Libya.

Ahmed

September 2nd, 2009 6:17am Report this comment

We have to arrest Qadhafi and take him to jell, and let the trial tell what he deserves..This is the only solution if there is a mininum of justice and human rights.
And don't forget the prisoners who were killede by Qadhafi's regime in 4 hours in Libya.

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