Libya demands improvements after leaked photos show tiny cell of Muammar Qaddafi’s son in Beirut

Hannibal Qaddafi, son of ousted Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, watches an elite military unit exercise in Zlitan, Libya, Sept. 25, 2011. (AP Photo)

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Updated 29 April 2024

April 29, 2024 19:49

Libya demands improvements after leaked photos show tiny cell of Muammar Qaddafi’s son in Beirut

Hannibal Qaddafi has been held in Lebanon since 2015 after he was kidnapped from neighboring Syria
Qaddafi was abducted by Lebanese militants demanding information about the fate of prominent Lebanese Shiite cleric Moussa Al-Sadr

Updated 29 April 2024

April 29, 2024 19:49

BEIRUT: Leaked photographs of the son of Libya’s late dictator Muammar Qaddafi and the tiny underground cell where he has been held for years in Lebanon have raised concerns in the north African nation as Libyan authorities demand improvements.
The photos showed a room without natural light packed with Hannibal Qaddafi’s belongings, a bed and a tiny toilet. “I live in misery,” local Al-Jadeed TV quoted the detainee as saying in a Saturday evening broadcast, adding that he is a political prisoner in a case he has no information about.
Two Lebanese judicial officials confirmed to The Associated Press on Monday that the photographs aired by Al-Jadeed are of Qaddafi and the cell where he has been held for years at police headquarters in Beirut. Qaddafi appeared healthy, with a light beard and glasses.
A person who is usually in contact with Qaddafi, a Libyan citizen, said the photos were taken in recent days. All spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media outlets.
Qaddafi has been held in Lebanon since 2015 after he was kidnapped from neighboring Syria, where he had been living as a political refugee. He was abducted by Lebanese militants demanding information about the fate of prominent Lebanese Shiite cleric Moussa Al-Sadr, who went missing during a trip to Libya in 1978.
The fate of Al-Sadr has been a sore point in Lebanon. His family believes he may still be alive in a Libyan prison, though most Lebanese presume Al-Sadr, who would be 95 now, is dead.
A Libyan delegation visited Beirut in January to reopen talks with Lebanese officials on the fate of Al-Sadr and the release of Qaddafi. The talks were aimed at reactivating a dormant agreement between Lebanon and Libya, struck in 2014, for cooperation in the probe of Al-Sadr. The delegation did not return to Beirut as planned.
The leaks by Al-Jadeed came after reports that Qaddafi was receiving special treatment at police headquarters and that he had cosmetic surgeries including hair transplants and teeth improvements. Al-Jadeed quoted him as saying: “Let them take my hair and teeth and give me my freedom.”
Qaddafi went on a hunger strike in June last year and was taken to a hospital after his health deteriorated.
Libya’s Justice Ministry in a statement Sunday said Qaddafi is being deprived of his rights guaranteed by law. It called on Lebanese authorities to improve his living conditions to one that “preserves his dignity,” adding that Lebanese authorities should formally inform the ministry of the improvements. It also said Qaddafi deserves to be released.
After he was kidnapped in 2015, Lebanese authorities freed him but then detained him, accusing him of concealing information about Al-Sadr’s disappearance.
Al-Sadr was the founder of the Amal group, a Shiite militia that fought in Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war and later became a political party that is currently led by the country’s Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
Many of Al-Sadr’s followers are convinced that Muammar Qaddafi ordered Al-Sadr killed in a dispute over Libyan payments to Lebanese militias. Libya has maintained that the cleric, along with two traveling companions, left Tripoli in 1978 on a flight to Rome.
Human Rights Watch issued a statement in January calling for Qaddafi’s release. The rights group noted that Qaddafi was only 2 years old at the time of Al-Sadr’s disappearance and held no senior position in Libya as an adult.

Topics: Libya Lebanon Hannibal Qaddafi Moussa Al-Sadr

2024 Year in Review: Can Lebanon recover from the depredations of Israel-Hezbollah war?

Updated 13 sec ago

NAJIA HOUSSARI

December 22, 2024 23:08

2024 Year in Review: Can Lebanon recover from the depredations of Israel-Hezbollah war?

Months-long conflict compounded the country’s economic and political crises, left thousands displaced from the south
With the Iran-backed militia weakened, now could be the moment when the state reasserts control over its security

Updated 13 sec ago

NAJIA HOUSSARI

December 22, 2024 23:08

BEIRUT: On the first day of 2024, the Lebanese militia Hezbollah received an Israeli ultimatum. If it did not immediately retreat from the Israeli-Lebanese border and cease its rocket attacks, a full-scale war was imminent. It was the threat that preceded the storm.

The following day, Israeli fire, previously confined to cross-border exchanges initiated by Hezbollah on Oct. 8, 2023, with the stated aim of supporting Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups in Gaza, was turned on the southern suburbs of Beirut for the first time.

An Israeli drone targeted a Hamas office in Haret Hreik, killing the group’s third-ranking leader, Saleh Al-Arouri. Simultaneously, the killings of Hezbollah leaders in southern Lebanon increased exponentially.

The war that Hezbollah launched against northern Israel compounded Lebanon’s existing crises. Already burdened by the financial collapse of 2019, Lebanon entered 2024 grappling with worsening economic and social turmoil.

A political crisis deepened the chaos, as a failure to appoint a president — caused by sharp divisions between Hezbollah and its allies on one side and their opponents on the other — has left the government paralyzed since October 2022.

The flare-up on the border initially displaced 80,000 people from their villages, further straining the country’s economy and increasing poverty. In mid-December 2023, donor countries informed Lebanon of plans to reduce aid for social protection at the start of 2024.

Military confrontations escalated quickly. Hezbollah maintained its “linked fronts” strategy, insisting it would continue its attacks until Israel withdrew from Gaza, while Israel insisted Hezbollah comply with Resolution 1701 and withdraw its forces north of the Litani River.

Between Oct. 8, 2023, and September 2024, Hezbollah launched 1,900 cross-border military attacks, while Israel responded with 8,300 attacks on southern Lebanon. These hostilities caused hundreds of fatalities and displaced entire communities in both southern Lebanon and northern Israel.

Despite intensive diplomatic efforts — primarily by France and the US — no ceasefire was reached during this period. The confrontations intensified, with the Israeli army expanding its targets to the Baalbek region, while Hezbollah extended its strikes to deep Israeli military positions.

Daily clashes revealed Hezbollah’s entrenched military presence in southern Lebanon, including arms depots, artillery emplacements and tunnels, despite the monitoring role of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon under Resolution 1701.

Resolution 1701 mandates the establishment of a weapons-free zone between the Blue Line and the Litani River, except for Lebanese government and international forces. It also prohibits the unauthorized sale or supply of arms to Lebanon.

Hassan Nasrallah, the slain secretary-general of Hezbollah, asserted in 2021 that the group’s fighting force was 100,000 strong.

Funded by Iran and trained by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Hezbollah boasted a significant arsenal, predominantly Iranian-made and locally manufactured weapons.

After monopolizing resistance operations in the 1980s, Hezbollah morphed into what many analysts considered an Iranian proxy beyond the control of the Lebanese state.

This year’s confrontations broke traditional rules of engagement, imposing new dynamics.

UNIFIL troops in forward positions were not spared from the crossfire, with incidents escalating after Israeli forces entered UNIFIL’s operational zones.

By mid-July, Western embassies in Lebanon were urging their nationals to leave, aware of Israel’s threat to expand the conflict into an all-out war on Lebanon.

Israeli strikes on Hezbollah’s leadership intensified, culminating in the July killing of Radwan Division commander Fouad Shukr in southern Beirut. The following day, Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh was targeted in Tehran, heightening tensions between Israel and Iran.

Israeli airstrikes deepened across southern Lebanon and the Bekaa Valley, while Hezbollah extended its attacks to Kiryat Shmona, Meron and the outskirts of Haifa and Safed.

Then, on Sept. 17-18, Israel mounted a coordinated attack on thousands of Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies, causing explosions that resulted in 42 deaths and more than 3,500 injuries. Although Israel has not claimed responsibility, the attack marked a significant escalation.

By Sept. 27, the killing of Nasrallah and other senior Hezbollah figures in Haret Hreik signaled the start of a wider war. Israeli forces used precision concussion rockets to strike deep into buildings and bunkers, killing Hezbollah commanders and forcing mass evacuations from Beirut’s southern suburbs.

In response, Hezbollah reaffirmed its commitment to linking any ceasefire in Lebanon to one in Gaza. However, by Oct. 1, Israel had intensified its raids, leveling residential buildings and even threatening archaeological sites in Tyre and Baalbek.

The Israeli army also initiated a ground offensive in southern Lebanon, destroying border villages and severing land crossings with Syria to disrupt Hezbollah’s supply lines. Satellite imagery revealed the total destruction of towns like Ayta Al-Shaab and Aitaroun, rendering them uninhabitable.

The devastation affected not only Hezbollah but also Lebanon’s Shiite community, which had invested heavily in the group over decades.

On Nov. 26, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, with US mediation, finalized a ceasefire agreement. However, the deal was preceded by a massive Israeli escalation in Beirut.

As the ceasefire came into effect, questions arose in Hezbollah strongholds about its decision to separate the Lebanon and Gaza peace tracks. Critics also questioned its commitment to dismantling military installations and cooperating with US-led monitoring efforts.

Despite the ceasefire, violations continued. Meanwhile, the war’s economic toll was becoming apparent.

Amin Salam, Lebanon’s minister of economy, estimated initial losses at $15-20 billion, with 500,000 jobs lost, widespread business closures, and agricultural devastation affecting 900,000 dunams of farmland.

Farmers, industrialists and displaced communities were left without support, deepening Lebanon’s economic paralysis. Municipalities began assessing damages, while Hezbollah sought to distribute Iranian-funded aid to those affected.

Although its leadership and its once mighty arsenal have been badly diminished, and the war in Gaza continues, the fact that Hezbollah has survived the past year of conflict is being projected by the group as a victory in itself.

What is certain is that Lebanon now faces an unprecedented challenge, recovering from a conflict it was ill-equipped to withstand and watching a friendly government in neighboring Syria crumble under an onslaught by opposition forces.

By the same token, now may be the moment many Lebanese had been eagerly waiting for, when the state is in a position to assert its control over internal and external security.

UN investigator says possible to find ‘enough’ proof for Syria prosecutions

Updated 27 min 1 sec ago

AFP

December 22, 2024 23:00

UN investigator says possible to find ‘enough’ proof for Syria prosecutions

Since Assad’s fall, Petit has been able to visit the country but his team still require authorization to begin their work inside Syria which they have requested

Updated 27 min 1 sec ago

AFP

December 22, 2024 23:00

DAMASCUS: The visiting head of a UN investigative body for Syria said Sunday it was possible to find “more than enough” evidence to convict people of crimes against international law, but there was an immediate need to secure and preserve it.
The doors of Syria’s prisons were flung open after an Islamist-led rebel alliance ousted longtime ruler Bashar Assad this month, more than 13 years after his brutal repression of anti-government protests triggered a war that would kill more than 500,000 people.
With families rushing to former prisons, detention centers and alleged mass graves to find any trace of disappeared relatives, many have expressed concern about safeguarding documents and other evidence.
“We have the possibility here to find more than enough evidence left behind to convict those we should prosecute,” said Robert Petit, who heads the International Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) set up by the UN in 2016 to prepare prosecutions for major international crimes in Syria.
But he noted that preserving evidence would “need a lot of coordination between all the different actors.”
“We can all understand the human impulse to go in and try and find your loved ones,” Petit said. “The fact is, though, that there needs to be a control put in place to restrict access to all these different centers... It needs to be a concerted effort by everyone who has the resources and the powers to do that to freeze that access, preserve it.”
The organization, known as the Mechanism, was not permitted to work in Syria under Assad’s government but was able to document many crimes from abroad.
Since Assad’s fall, Petit has been able to visit the country but his team still require authorization to begin their work inside Syria which they have requested.
He said his team had “documented hundreds of detention centers... Every security center, every military base, every prison had their own either detention or mass graves attached to it.”
“We’re just now beginning to scratch that surface and I think it’s going to be a long time before we know the full extent of it,” he told AFP.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor, more than 100,000 people died in Syria’s jails and detention centers from 2011.
The Saydnaya complex, the site of extrajudicial executions, torture and forced disappearances, epitomised the atrocities committed against Assad’s opponents.
Petit compared Saydnaya to the S-21 prison in Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh, which came to stand for the Khmer Rouge’s wider atrocities and now houses the country’s genocide museum.
The Saydnaya facility will become “an emblematic example of inhumanity,” he said.
Petit said his team had reached out to the new authorities “to get permission to come here and start discussing a framework by which we can conduct our mandate.”
“We had a productive meeting and we’ve asked formally now, according to their instructions, to be able to come back and start the work. So we’re waiting for that response,” he said.
Even without setting foot in Syria, Petit’s 82-member team has gathered huge amounts of evidence of the worst breaches of international law committed during the war.
The hope is that there could now be a national accountability process in Syria and that steps could be taken to finally grant the International Criminal Court jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed in the country.

Topics: Fall of Assad Syria

Tunisian women herb harvesters struggle with drought

Updated 59 min 45 sec ago

AFP

December 22, 2024 22:23

Tunisian women herb harvesters struggle with drought

Tunisia produces around 10,000 tonnes of aromatic and medicinal herbs each year, according to official figures

Updated 59 min 45 sec ago

AFP

December 22, 2024 22:23

TUNIS: On a hillside in Tunisia’s northwestern highlands, women scour a sun-scorched field for the wild herbs they rely on for their livelihoods, but droughts are making it ever harder to find the precious plants.
Yet the harvesters say they have little choice but to struggle on, as there are few opportunities in a country hit hard by unemployment, inflation and high living costs.
“There is a huge difference between the situation in the past and what we are living now,” said Mabrouka Athimni, who heads a local collective of women herb harvesters named “Al-Baraka.”

Mabrouka Athimni, who heads a local collective of women herb harvesters named "Al Baraka" ("Blessing") shows oil extracted from plants in a laboratory in Tbainia village near the city of Ain Drahem, in the north west of Tunisia on November 6, 2024. (AFP)

“We’re earning half, sometimes just a third, of what we used to.”

SPEEDREAD

Yet the harvesters say they have little choice but to struggle on, as there are few opportunities in a country hit hard by unemployment and high living costs.

Tunisia produces around 10,000 tonnes of aromatic and medicinal herbs each year, according to official figures.
Rosemary accounts for more than 40 percent of essential oil exports, mainly destined for French and American markets.
For the past 20 years, Athimni’s collective has supported numerous families in Tbainia, a village near the city of Ain Draham in a region with much higher poverty rates than the national average.
Women, who make up around 70 percent of the agricultural workforce, are the main breadwinners for their households in Tbainia.
Tunisia is in its sixth year of drought and has seen its water reserves dwindle, as temperatures have soared past 50 degrees Celsius in some areas during the summer.
The country has 36 dams, mostly in the northwest, but they are currently just 20 percent full — a record low in recent decades.
The Tbainia women said they usually harvested plants like eucalyptus, rosemary and mastic year-round, but shrinking water resources and rare rainfall have siphoned oil output.
“The mountain springs are drying up, and without snow or rain to replenish them, the herbs yield less oil,” said Athimni.
Mongia Soudani, a 58-year-old harvester and mother of three, said her work was her household’s only income. She joined the collective five years ago.

“We used to gather three or four large sacks of herbs per harvest,” she said. “Now, we’re lucky to fill just one.”

Forests in Tunisia cover 1.25 million hectares, about 10 percent of them in the northwestern region.

Wildfires fueled by drought and rising temperatures have ravaged these woodlands, further diminishing the natural resources that women like Soudani depend on.

In the summer of last year, wildfires destroyed around 1,120 hectares near Tbainia.

“Parts of the mountain were consumed by flames, and other women lost everything,” Soudani recalled.

To adapt to some climate-driven challenges, the women received training from international organizations, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization, to preserve forest resources.

Still, Athimni struggles to secure a viable income.

“I can’t fulfil my clients’ orders anymore because the harvest has been insufficient,” she said.

The collective has lost a number of its customers as a result, she said.

Topics: Tunis Tunisia women

Civilians suffer as rival forces seek foothold in wider Darfur region

Updated 34 min 40 sec ago

Reuters

December 22, 2024 22:13

Civilians suffer as rival forces seek foothold in wider Darfur region

Rapid Support Forces seize back control of key logistical base

Updated 34 min 40 sec ago

Reuters

December 22, 2024 22:13

DUBAI/CAIRO: Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) seized back control of a key logistical base in North Darfur on Sunday, the paramilitary group said, a day after it was taken by rival forces allied with Sudan’s army.
The conflict between the RSF and the army erupted in April 2023, and some of the fiercest fighting has taken place in North Darfur as the army and allied Joint Forces — a collection of former rebel groups — battle to maintain a last foothold in the wider Darfur region.
The Joint Forces and the army said in statements they had taken control on Saturday of the Al-Zurug base, which the RSF has used during the 20-month war as a logistical base to channel supplies from over the nearby borders with Chad and Libya.

BACKGROUND

• The conflict between the RSF and the army erupted in April 2023, and some of the fiercest fighting has taken place in North Darfur.

• Since fighting picked up in Al-Fashir in mid-April, at least 782 civilians have been killed, according to a UN human rights report.

Dozens of RSF soldiers were killed, vehicles destroyed and supplies captured as they captured the base, they said.
The incident could inflame ethnic tensions between the Arab tribes that form the base of the RSF and the Zaghawa tribe that forms most of the Joint Forces, analysts say.
The RSF accused Joint Forces fighters of killing civilians and burning down nearby homes and public amenities during the raid.
“The Joint Forces carried out ethnic cleansing against innocent civilians in Al-Zurug and intentionally killed children, women, and the elderly and burnt and destroyed wells and markets and homes and the health center and schools,” it said in a statement on Sunday.
The Joint Forces said the base had been used by the RSF as a “launching point for barbaric operations against civilians” in areas including Al-Fashir, the capital of North Darfur state and one of the most active frontlines in the fighting.
Since fighting picked up in Al-Fashir in mid-April, at least 782 civilians have been killed, according to a UN human rights report, the result of attacks via “intense” heavy artillery and suicide drones from the RSF and airstrikes and artillery strikes by the army.
On Sunday, activists from the Al-Fashir Resistance Committee reported an onslaught of at least 30 missiles fired on different parts of the city.
Seizing control of the city would bolster the RSF’s attempt to install a parallel government to the national government in Port Sudan, analysts say.

Topics: Sudan conflict Sudan army Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF)

Jordanian minister criticizes ‘sensational’ reporting of Middle East events

Updated 22 December 2024

Arab News

December 22, 2024 22:03

Jordanian minister criticizes ‘sensational’ reporting of Middle East events

Mohammad Momani stressed the importance of obtaining verified information
He said media freedom should not be misused to distort regional events

Updated 22 December 2024

Arab News

December 22, 2024 22:03

LONDON: Jordanian Minister of Government Communication Mohammad Momani emphasized the importance of professionalism and accuracy in reporting Middle Eastern events during a meeting with local, Arab and international media representatives on Sunday.

Momani said that a few international media outlets “sensationalize” regional events at the cost of accuracy, arguing that “this does not serve the public and undermines professional standards.”

He discussed with media representatives the importance of obtaining verified information to ensure accuracy, serve public opinion and uphold the right to knowledge, the official Jordanian news agency, Petra, reported.

Over the past year, some Western media outlets reporting on the Israeli war in the Gaza Strip and the conflict with Lebanon, as well as the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, have investigated some details in the stories they ran.

CNN investigated a recent video report that captures the moment a Syrian prisoner was freed from a secretive prison in Damascus. Critics have claimed that the report was staged and that the man featured in the CNN video was not who he claimed to be.

Momani said that media freedom should not be misused to distort regional circumstances or promote political and ideological agendas, Petra added.

He called on media outlets in Jordan to report on the country’s political and security realities professionally, accurately representing the event in all its aspects while rejecting false or misleading narratives.

Momani said that the Jordanian government was dedicated to transparency and communication with media representatives, including Arab, international and local outlets.

He praised the professional reporting on regional events by Jordanian state agencies and commended the country’s balanced political stance and commitment to stability.

Jordan’s Ministry of Government Communication regularly holds meetings and briefings to enhance communication with media representatives in Jordan.

Topics: Jordan

Libya demands improvements after leaked photos show tiny cell of Muammar Qaddafi’s son in Beirut

Libya demands improvements after leaked photos show tiny cell of Muammar Qaddafi’s son in Beirut

A Libyan delegation reopens talks in Lebanon on a missing cleric and on Qaddafi’s detained son

Rights group urges Lebanon to free Qaddafi’s son

2024 Year in Review: Can Lebanon recover from the depredations of Israel-Hezbollah war?

2024 Year in Review: Can Lebanon recover from the depredations of Israel-Hezbollah war?

Harness momentum from Assad’s fall and Lebanon ceasefire to end war in Gaza, says UK envoy

Gaza, Lebanon in focus as Pakistani leaders head to summit of D-8 developing nations

UN investigator says possible to find ‘enough’ proof for Syria prosecutions

UN investigator says possible to find ‘enough’ proof for Syria prosecutions

Druze leader Jumblatt paves way for Lebanese-Syrian relationship without Assad

Syrian soldiers distance themselves from Assad in return for promised amnesty

Tunisian women herb harvesters struggle with drought

Tunisian women herb harvesters struggle with drought

SPEEDREAD

Tunisian short at RSIFF explores ‘universal desire for freedom of movement’

Saudi doctor develops herbal feminine hygiene products

Civilians suffer as rival forces seek foothold in wider Darfur region

Civilians suffer as rival forces seek foothold in wider Darfur region

BACKGROUND

As flooding becomes a yearly disaster in South Sudan, thousands survive on the edge of a canal

US State Department imposes visa restrictions on multiple people in South Sudan

Jordanian minister criticizes ‘sensational’ reporting of Middle East events

Jordanian minister criticizes ‘sensational’ reporting of Middle East events

Turkiye’s top diplomat meets Syria’s new leader in Damascus

Media watchdog condemns Israel over killing of 4 Gaza journalists, demands accountability

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Libya demands improvements after leaked photos show tiny cell of Muammar Qaddafi’s son in Beirut

Libya demands improvements after leaked photos show tiny cell of Muammar Qaddafi’s son in Beirut

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