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Formerly the Libyan Ambassador to India, Mohamed Yousif al Megarief has been on Gaddafi’s hit list for the last 24 years. He denounces the Colonel’s regime in this investigation into clandestine Libyan opposition by Karl Schembri
For the Libyan regime, Mohamed Yousif al Megarief is clearly a traitor. When he defected in 1980, he was Libya’s ambassador to India, following a five-year stint as Attorney General.
During those five years scrutinising the accounts of the Jamahiriya (he was previously Professor and Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Economics at Benghazi University), al Megarief says he realised the extent of high-level corruption.
“I had made my opinion very clear that there is a lot of corruption, a lot of squandering of the wealth of the country, and I put this in writing,” al Megarief says in a telephone interview from his home in Georgia, US. “So the regime was annoyed with this, and they sent me away … by ‘exiling’ me as ambassador of Libya to India in 1978. I stayed there till 1980 when they started killing opponents of the regime in London, in Paris, in Rome, in Athens, everywhere, about 20 people were killed. So at that moment I decided enough is enough, I have to leave this regime, I have nothing to do with it. I announced my opposition to the regime openly.”
The early 1980s were years marked by a policy of repression of those who expressed dissent at the Libyan government’s policies. Student demonstrations were violently suppressed and political opponents were arrested and imprisoned or ‘disappeared’.
In 1980, the regime led by Col Muammar Gaddafi introduced a policy of assassination of political opponents, termed “stray dogs”. Known as “physical liquidation”, this policy empowered the Revolutionary Committees to execute dissidents both in Libya and abroad.
It was also a time when Gaddafi actively supported anti-imperialist Third World movements through covert funding and training in Libya, including the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, the ANC in South Africa and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, as well as the Irish Republican Army, Basque ETA separatists and Colombian M19 guerrillas. He had also given asylum to the Black September murderers of eleven Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics and to the Palestinian terrorist mastermind, Abu Nidal.
Foiled coups and counter-coups
Al Megarief was one of the founders of the National Front for the Salvation of Libya in 1980, and was immediately appointed its Secretary General – a post which he occupied until 2001.
Together with the Libyan National Alliance based in London, NFSL is one of the most important groups in the external opposition. The top priority on its agenda remains, to this day, toppling Gaddafi “by whatever means possible,” as al Megarief put it, “because Gaddafi always declared that he retained his power by force, and he will never leave power without force. So we always did what we could, using propaganda, using human rights institutions, we had our radio also for some time transmitting from Sudan and from Chad … we did all that we could, and we had contacts with almost every Arab country at that time that was sympathising with us, and of course with European countries, the UK, France and of course with the US, and they did help in many ways.”
In fact, the organisation had the support of the US and other Western countries that were clearly outraged at Gaddafi’s nationalisation of oil companies (including the subsidiaries of Exxon, Mobil, Texaco, Socal and Shell) and the closing down of NATO bases since he overthrew King Idris in 1969 with a small group of army officers.
Heavily funded by the CIA and also backed by the French secret service, NFSL mounted a coup against Gaddafi in May 1984 in a raid on his residence at the Tripoli Bab Al Azizya barracks. The coup was crushed and an estimated 75 exiles were killed by the Libyan government. US official records also indicate that funding for the Chad-based secret war against Libya also came from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Israel and Iraq, with the Saudis donating as much as $7 million to NFSL.
Just a couple of months before the 1984 aborted coup, NFSL had set up a clandestine radio station broadcasting from Sudan as a psychological warfare tool, called the Voice of the Libyan People, to prepare Libya for an invasion.
In 1986, the CIA orchestrated another covert operation codenamed Flower/Rose, which consisted of an armed NFSL rebellion based in Egypt, Algeria and Chad, while on 14 April the US Air Force launched air strikes on Gaddafi’s house in Tripoli in a bid to assassinate him, killing around 40 people, including his adopted daughter.
The attacks were ordered directly by US President Ronald Reagan, who had Thatcher’s approval to use British air bases, in retaliation to the terrorist bombing of the Berlin La Belle discotheque frequented by American servicemen. Then Maltese Prime Minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici had personally informed Gaddafi that unauthorised fighter planes had just crossed over Maltese territory towards the direction of Libya, literally saving his life as the laser-guided bombs were about to be dropped.
Gaddafi closes ranks
The late ‘80s saw a distrustful Gaddafi continuously shifting army officers from one post to another and reshuffling his Cabinet while pursuing an anti-Islamic fundamentalist policy domestically, viewing religious organisations as a prospective rallying point for dissidents of the regime.
Foremost among them are al-Jama’a al-Islamiya al-Libiya, the Libyan Islamic Group, also known as al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin, the Muslim Brothers, whose membership went into exile or underground. Other religious organisations still operating in secret include the Islamic Alliance Movement and the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group.
Al Megarief says that since his resignation from Libyan ambassador, he was for several times the target of assassination by Libyan agents.
“As soon as I declared my opposition to the regime, a Revolutionary Committee sentenced me to death, but I was outside the country,” he says. “They tried to assassinate me several times when I was in Italy 1981, and when they thought I was in Spain, and on other occasions.”
Independent reports suggest that not only the terrorist bombing of French airliner UTA Flight 772 over Niger in 1989 by Libyan secret agents was aimed at dissuading France from continuing its military operations in Chad, but it was also probably aimed at eliminating Al Megarief, who was supposed to be on that flight.
Al Megarief and his family fled to Morocco, where they lived until 1984, when he claims that the Moroccan government had struck a secret deal with Gaddafi to hand him over.
Brother ‘disappears’
“We then fled to Egypt, until the Egyptian regime also struck a deal with Gaddafi to hand my brother and me to Gaddafi in March 1990. My brother is still in prison now.”
His statement is corroborated by Amnesty International’s Libya 2004 report on human rights, in which it is reported that ‘Ezzat Yousif al Megarief had “disappeared” together with Jaballah Hamad Matar – another prominent member of NFSL – while in Cairo in March 1990. Amnesty says: “Their whereabouts since that time have remained unknown, although unconfirmed reports have suggested that they were both handed over to the Libyan authorities.”
Al Megarief says he has another brother who has been kept in prison without a trial for the last five years.
Another possible secret deal between Egypt and the Libyan regime to hand over dissidents covertly was that regarding Mansur al Kikhiya, the human rights activist and Secretary General of the National Libyan Alliance. Al Kikhiya “disappeared” in Cairo in 1993. He had worked in the Libyan government for several years and, like Al Megarief, resigned from office in 1980 in protest at the execution of political opponents.
Al Kikhiya was attending the general conference of the Arab Organisation for Human Rights in Cairo and was last seen on the evening of 10 December 1993 at the al Safir Hotel. He was allegedly executed in 1994.
‘Ali Mohammad’ Abu Zaid, a well-known Libyan opposition activist in London, was found stabbed to death in his shop in London in November 1995, in circumstances suggesting that he may have been extrajudicially assassinated by agents working for the Libyan authorities. An inquest into the murder held two years later recorded a verdict of unlawful killing.
NFSL activists executed
In January 1997, Libyan state television reported that eight men – six senior army officers and two civilians – were executed after the Supreme Military Court upheld their death sentences. All had been arrested in the aftermath of a rebellion by army units around the cities of Misrata and Bani Walid in October 1993 and charged with “passing defence secrets to foreign states [the United States of America]” and membership of the NFSL.
At least five others tried in the case were sentenced to prison terms ranging from five to 20 years.
The army officers included Major Khalil Salem Muhammad al Jadik, who in March 1994 had his interrogation broadcast on Libyan television together with three others. Amnesty reports that while being interrogated at length on camera, “they confessed to being American ‘spies’ and to having been recruited as US intelligence agents by members of the National Front for the Salvation of Libya. It was alleged they had been tortured into making these confessions. Charges against them included spying, treason, ‘instigation of violence, use of armed forces channels to achieve political and social goals’ and ‘cooperation with the enemy to harm the interests of the country’, all of which are punishable by death.
Nephew ‘faces persecution if deported’
Al Megarief is concerned that his nephew, Abdalla Juma al Magrus, who is currently detained in Malta and has so far been refused refugee status, would be tortured and possibly executed if deported back to Libya by Maltese authorities. Al Megarief says his nephew has already been imprisoned twice before because of his cooperation with NFSL and for being the relative of a public dissident.
“He was cooperating with us in Libya, he was trying to help me, helping our cause, it’s the cause of every Libyan. Sometimes it’s just getting me information, sometimes we sent him leaflets to distribute in Libya … it was all supposed to be normal political activity for any democratic country. He was one of hundreds, but because he was a relative of mine he was targeted.”
Amnesty also says it is concerned by the fate of Libyans who have returned to Libya and have been subjected to arbitrary arrest and detention.
“It is particularly disturbing to note that some Libyan nationals were arbitrarily detained upon arrival despite assurances they had received that they would be safe and able to resume a normal life,” Amnesty says. One of them, Mustapha Muhammad Krer, was in Malta in 2002 and, despite assurances from the Libyan Embassy in Malta that he would not be arrested on his return, he was arrested at the Tripoli airport and remains detained in ‘Ayn Zara prison to this date.
Amnesty’s indictment
The US-inspired rhetoric of the “war on terror” in the last years has provided the pretext for the Libyan regime to further justify the continuation of a repressive policy at home, says Amnesty, curtailing the right of Libyan citizens to freedom of expression and association.
“The “counter-terrorism” argument is clearly used as a new justification for an old practice, enshrined in Libyan law, of repression of all political dissent,” Amnesty says.
From the testimonies it collected, it appears that if a detainee “confesses” quickly, they are usually subjected to light beatings or other forms of ill treatment. However, if a detainee refuses to “confess”, torture is used in order to extract a “confession”. The most frequently reported techniques are beatings with electric cables, beatings on the soles of the feet (falaqa), the use of electric shocks and being suspended from a height by the arms.
Political asylum in the US
Al Megarief is now living in Georgia, US, where he enjoys political asylum, with his wife (an American citizen), six daughters and one son, who is Professor of Economics at Georgetown University, Washington.
He says he is writing a history of Libya in 10 volumes, three of which will be published by the end of this month, “insh’allah, before the 1st of September anniversary (the anniversary of the 1969 coup by Gaddafi)”.
He insists he does not receive money from any government and remains a member of NFSL, although he resigned as secretary general in 2001.
“In a very short time, maybe less than a year, a year or so, you’ll discover that all Libyans, almost all Libyans, 90 per cent of Libyans are against this rotten regime,” he says. “They don’t air their voices because of fear, because of persecutions, because of terror, because of dictatorship, but once they have freedom, and they hope they’ll have it soon, and they hope with the help of European countries and US and all free countries of the world, you’ll discover and you’ll be amazed, to know that not less than 90 per cent of the Libyan people are against this regime.”
But since Gaddafi’s return to the international fold following his announcement that he would dismantle weapons of mass destruction last December, NFSL and other elements of external have, ironically, ended up on the wrong side of history.
In fact, while NFSL’s agenda remains that of deposing Gaddafi, the international community, particularly the US, is now lauding the former pariah whom Reagan used to call “the mad dog of the Middle East”.
Al Megarief insists Gaddafi has to go.
“We know the true nature of Gaddafi, he will never change, he will remain a dictator. He doesn’t believe in democracy so to say that he will implement any reform, that’s an impossibility. So we still believe that the only real solution for Libya’s problems is for Gaddafi to go, he has had 35 years of dictatorship, of atrocities, of squandering our wealth. We think it is time for us, for humans, for all communities in the world to help the Libyan people truly, to have real change, real reform, and that’s by having democracy, and letting the people have a constitution, and letting the people have elections and choose their leaders. Our demands, as Libyans, are to regain our country from this dictator, and to have democracy, and rule of law, and utilising our wealth for the common good. I think we are worthy of this and we deserve this.”
Does he feel isolated at the moment?
“There was a time when Europeans and Americans understood Gaddafi and they were willing to help us. Now they’re changing, maybe they are changing, I’m not sure that they are changing their mind. Now why is Europe taking this stand with Gaddafi? Why is the US happy? Is it for economic reasons? I think every Libyan wants his country to have the best of cooperation with European countries, with the US and the whole world, but they’re striking deals with a murderer. What is happening now, Gaddafi is giving Europe whatever they want at the expense of Libyan desperation, by keeping Libyans in deprivation, in total deprivation, in poverty. You can see them, they visit, they come to you in Malta.
“Look, I think one day Europe will be very sorry … they’ll have to apologise to the Libyan people, for supporting the bloody regime, the murderous regime of Gaddafi, just because they are after some economic interests, when they know that the Libyans have no objections whatsoever to the best of cooperation with Europe and the US, and yet Europe and the US choose to have dealings with this kind of regime and unfortunately they still talk of democracy for the region. How can you have democracy if you accept to accommodate a regime like this?”
karl@newsworksltd.com
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