When Yousef Karamanli chopped down the flagpole outside the US embassy in Tripoli becoming the first foreign power to officially declare war against the United States, he encouraged the US Congress to fund a Navy that was sent to war. Although defeated in battle, Karamanli maintained his power and passed it on to other generations of his family.
In 1949, when the United States Navy held a ceremony at the Tripoli graves of five of the US Navy servicemen killed in that war in 1804, the mayor of Tripoli was Yousef Karamanli, a descendant of the same Yousef Karamanli who declared war against the United States a hundred and fifty years earlier.
After his rule entered its fourth decade, Mummar Gadhafi began to listen to his eldest son, Saif "Sword of Islam" Gadhafi, who was educated in London and wrote a thesis on the political situation in Libya, and how to bring constitutional democracy to a nation that had been ruled by one man for forty years.
The implementation of the democratic reforms never happened however, and when the Arab revolt spread from nearby Tunisia to Egypt, Libya could not be influenced, and Saif came down hard on the revolutionaries, even though he had previously wrote that it was the right of the people to revolt against tyranny.
Saif, once in line to take over the reigns of the government, is now in custody of the revolutionaries, bringing the Gadhafi era to an end, as well as the possibility of a Gadhafi Dynasty, like that of the Karamanli Dynasty, which lasted nearly two hundred years.
A look at the fate of Moammar Gadhafi's family
http://www.kansascity.com/2011/11/19/3275363/a-look-at-the-fate-of-moammar.html
A look at the fate of key members of ex-Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's family:
KILLED:
MOAMMAR GADHAFI - Libya's leader of nearly 42 years was captured by revolutionary forces in his hometown of Sirte. Libyan officials initially said Gadhafi was killed in crossfire between revolutionary fighters and loyalists. However, video footage emerged showing him being beaten, taunted and abused by his captors, raising questions about how and when he died. His body was later put on public display in the nearby city of Misrata until he was buried in a secret location.
MUATASSIM GADHAFI - Formerly the regime's national security adviser, Muatassim was shot to death after he was found hiding with his father in Sirte. His body also was put on display alongside Moammar Gadhafi and ex-Defense Minister Abu Bakr Younis. A former bodyguard has said Gadhafi and his son traveled to Sirte shortly after fleeing Tripoli when the Libyan capital fell to revolutionary forces. Mansour Dao said Muatassim led loyalist fighters in the besieged city.
KHAMIS GADHAFI - The former commander of one of the regime's strongest military brigades, Gadhafi's son Khamis was reportedly killed in a clash in August. Military officials have said they believe he was buried in Bani Walid, which was one of the last cities to fall to revolutionary control. He was pursuing an MBA in Spain when he was expelled for his role in attacks on Libyan protesters in the months leading up to Gadhafi's ouster.
SEIF AL-ARAB GADHAFI - Seif al-Arab was reported to be 29 when Libyan authorities said Gadhafi's son and three of the leader's grandchildren were killed in an April 30 NATO airstrike in Tripoli. He was a businessman who lived for some time in Germany, where he was investigated but never charged in an illegal weapons possession case.
CAPTURED:
SEIF AL-ISLAM GADHAFI - Gadhafi's second eldest son and the first by his marriage to second wife Safiya, Seif al-Islam was captured by revolutionary forces deep in Libya's southern desert. The British-educated 39-year-old was taken to the mountain city of Zintan where authorities promised he would be treated humanely. The Netherlands-based International Criminal Court has charged him with crimes against humanity and discussions were under way over where he should face trial.
FLED:
HANNIBAL GADHAFI - Gadhafi's son Hannibal was briefly arrested in 2008 for allegedly beating up two servants in a Geneva luxury hotel, sparking a diplomatic spat that dragged on for months. In 2005, a French court convicted Hannibal of striking a pregnant companion in a Paris hotel. He was given a four-month suspended prison sentence and a small fine. He fled to Algeria after Tripoli fell with his mother and several other relatives.
AL-SAADI GADHAFI - Known for his love of professional soccer, Gadhafi's son al-Saadi reportedly had a colorful past that included run-ins with police in Europe, drug and alcohol abuse. A man identifying himself as al-Saadi said he was ready to negotiate with the rebels to stop the bloodshed as fighting raged despite the fall of Tripoli. His conciliatory tone contrasted with a defiant statement attributed to Seif al-Islam on the same day. Al-Saadi fled to Niger in September, and the government there gave him refugee status.
MOHAMMED GADHAFI - In his early 40s, Mohammed is the only child of Gadhafi and his first wife, Fatiha. He was Libya's Olympic chief and was involved in the country's telecommunications industry. The rebels reported capturing him after they moved into Tripoli, and soon after said he had escaped from house arrest. He married in 2000. He was among Gadhafi's children who fled to Algeria.
AISHA GADHAFI - A lawyer in her mid-30s, Aisha helped in the defense of Saddam Hussein, Iraq's toppled dictator, in the trial that led to his hanging. During a 2000 visit to London, Aisha delivered an impromptu speech praising the Irish Republican Army at Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park. Gadhafi's daughter had been a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. Development Program, but the U.N. ended its agreement with her as Gadhafi cracked down on anti-government protesters. She gave birth on the border as the family members fled to Algeria.
SAFIYA GADHAFI - Safiya was a teenage nursing student when she met Gadhafi soon after he took power in 1969. He ended up divorcing his first wife and marrying her. The couple had six sons and one daughter together and adopted two more children. She was among the group that fled to Algeria.
UNCONFIRMED:
HANA GADHAFI - One of Gadhafi's adopted children, the Libyan leader claimed she died as an infant in the 1986 U.S. airstrike that hit his Tripoli compound, Bab al-Aziziya. The airstrike was in retaliation for the Libyan-sponsored bombing of a Berlin nightclub earlier that year that killed two U.S. servicemen. At the time, Gadhafi showed American journalists a picture of a dead baby he said was Hana. But Libyan rebels who took over Bab al-Aziziya found a room in Gadhafi's home with Hana's birth certificate and pictures of a young woman with the name Hana written on the back, possible indications that she lived well beyond infancy. Tripoli hospital officials also say Hana worked as a surgeon. Her whereabouts is unknown.
DOWNFALL OF A DYNASTY: WHERE ARE THE GADDAFIS NOW?
Muammar Gaddafi - DEAD
The Libyan dictator and patriarch of the feared Gaddafi clan was killed on October 20 in his hometown of Sirte, the last loyalist stronghold to fall to the former rebels. After his death, his body was on display in the city of Misrata and attracted long queues of people wanting to see him in the flesh.
Saif Al Islam Gaddafi - CAPTURED
The 'heir', whose liberal reputation was undermined after the outbreak of the revolt in February, is the only Gaddafi to have been taken alive, following his capture yesterday.
Mutassim Gaddafi - DEAD
The hedonistic national security adviser died in Sirte on the same day as his father. He was captured by the rebels and seen alive in a video, but just minutes later was dead of a bloody wound, leading many to believe that he was summarily executed by National Transitional Council forces.
Saif Al Arab Gaddafi - DEAD
The 29-year-old, who studied in Germany, was apparently killed by Nato bombardment on Gaddafi's home in Tripoli on April 30.
Saadi Gaddafi - FLED
The footballer was signed to top Italian teams for several years, but made only two appearances - apparently at the behest of Italy's then-prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. Despite claiming to be 'neutral' in the Libyan civil war, he fled to Niger in September. The country says it will not allow him to be extradited.
Khamis Gaddafi - DEAD?
The death of Colonel Gaddafi's youngest son has been repeatedly announced, but never confirmed. Both pro-regime sources and rebels have claimed that he was killed on August 29, when the convoy he was travelling in was attacked by a Nato aeroplane.
Safia Gaddafi - FLED (with her children)
The Colonel's second wife escaped to Algeria in late August, soon after the fall of Tripoli. She is believed to have been with her children Hannibal and Aisha, and her stepson Muhammad, Gaddafi's only child from his first marriage. The Algerian government claims to have offered to return them to Libya.
No comments:
Post a Comment