Reply #57: Saved from Gaddafi's torturers – by a simple gesture of kindness

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Saved from Gaddafi's torturers – by a simple gesture of kindness
Former captive tells of the 'horror movie' violence meted by Libyan soldiers, and how he came to escape a similar fate

Chris McGreal in Benghazi guardian.co.uk, Sunday 17 April 2011 14.34 BST

When Ali Mufta draped his blanket around the shoulders of a pair of terrified teenage brothers, he thought of it as little more than a touch of kindness in the midst of a situation he describes as "a horror movie". But it was a gesture that saved him from the fate of other prisoners crammed into an underground cell in Sirte, the birthplace of the Libyan dictator, Muammar Gaddafi.

The petrol tanker driver watched horrified as his fellow captives were called out in ones and twos by Gaddafi's soldiers. He listened to their screams and pleas, and saw them return with broken hands and feet, and faces disfigured.

"They removed each person from the room in turn and they beat him and kicked him. They broke fingers and toes. They destroyed the faces. They came back completely covered in blood," he said. "I saw them kick a wounded rebel soldier until he bled to death. I saw a man who was crawling around on all fours as they kicked and beat him, and still he kept crawling. There wasn't a point of his body that wasn't beaten."

Mufta had no reason to believe his fate would be any different. A month ago, the 33-year-old had volunteered to take food to Ras Lanuf, a rebel-held town under attack from Gaddafi's forces. The aid convoy of food trucks and three ambulances from Benghazi arrived only to discover the Libyan dictator's army was already there.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/17/gadaffi-torturers-kindness-sirte

A remarkable story that gives some good insight. This is one of the cases that is being investigated by Amnesty International, and I assume the ICC.