Though Muammar al-Gaddafi was as recently as early 2011 a friend of the West, co-operating with the British and Americans in particular on security issues as well as opening up the Libyan economy to corporate interests, (read all about that here), his list of crimes against opposition to his rule extending back decades are well known to the Libyan people well before his attempts to crush the uprisings in Benghazi. He is the latest in a list of Western allies to find themselves discarded onto the trash heap of history once their “allies” realised that their interests could no longer be served by them, joining Mubarak, Ben Ali and Saddam Hussein.

With the killing of Gaddafi confirmed by the head of the military council of Tripoli, Abdel Hakim Belhaj, the following is a list of a few of the crimes well before the uprisings began that he was answerable to. Though he was answerable to all these before the current uprisings, his regime had become a reliable ally of the West who not only knew full well about his human rights abuses, but used his apparatus for their own means as well. These are just a few of his crimes, while the actual number and details of the full extent of his abuses are much more.

a. Thousands killed while in prison, either as a result of torture, or deliberate mass killing of prisoners due to their Islamic inclinations and opposition to the Gaddafi regime, most famously the massacre at Abu Salim prison in 1996. Mass graves thought to be holding more than 1000 of the victims have been uncovered since the downfall of the Gaddafi regime.

b. Co-operation with the United States and Britain in the torture and rendition of opposition figures, including current prominent figures of the opposition.

c. Public Executions of Civilians in the 1980’s, by way of example – 

1 – Omar Ali Debub (teacher and the university students participated in the demonstrations in January 1976): executed by hanging on 6 April 1977 in front of the Socialist Union building in  Benghazi
2 – Mohammed Bin Saud Al-Tayeb (teacher and the university students participated in the demonstrations in January 1976): executed by hanging on 6 April 1977 in front of the Socialist Union building in Benghazi
3 – Ahmed Fouad Fathallah (an Egyptian): executed by hanging on 6 April 1977 the port of Benghazi Sea
4 – Saleh Ali al-Zarouk Al-Nawal (teacher): April 1982 was executed in prison
5 – Mohammed Muhatthab Ihfaf (college student) (due to membership of Hizb ut-Tahrir): Hanged on April 7, 1983 in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Tripoli
6 – Nimr Khaled Khamis (Palestinian teacher) (due to membership of Hizb ut-Tahrir): Executed by hanging in front of students on 7 April 1983 al-Fatih secondary school in Ajdabiyya
7 – Nasser Mohammad Sares (Palestinian teacher) – (due to membership of Hizb ut-Tahrir): Executed by hanging in front of students on 7 April 1983 al-Fatih secondary school in Ajdabiyya
8 – Ali Ahmed Awadallah (Palestinian teacher) – (due to membership of Hizb ut-Tahrir): Executed by hanging in front of students on 7 April 1983 al-Fatih secondary school in Ajdabiyya
9 – Hasan Bader Al Badi (Palestinian teacher) – (due to membership of Hizb ut-Tahrir): Executed by hanging in front of students on 7 April 1983 al-Fatih secondary school in Ajdabiyya
11 – Hassan Ahmad al-Kurdi (student) -(due to membership of Hizb ut-Tahrir): April 1984 was executed in prison

12 – Abdullah Abu al-Qasim Msallati (student) – (due to membership of Hizb ut Tahrir): April 1984 executed secretly in prison without trial
13 – Rashid Mansour Kaabar (college student) – it was claimed that he was from the followers of Sheikh Al-Bishti – executed by hanging on 16 April 1984 in Tripoli, Faculty of Pharmacy
14 – Hafidh al-Madani (college student): executed by hanging on 16 April 1984 at the Faculty of Agriculture
15 – Mustafa al-Nouweiri: executed by hanging on 21 April 1984 at the University of Benghazi

d. Assassinations carried out abroad in the 1980’s, by way of example:

1 – Mohamed Mustafa Ramadan (radio reporter, apparently due to his membership of Hizb ut Tahrir):  11 April 1980 he was assassinated outside the mosque after Friday prayers in London
2 – Mahmoud Abdel-Salam Nafi (lawyer): 21 April 1980, was assassinated in Britain
3 – Arif Abdul Jalil (businessman): 19 April 1980, was assassinated in Rome
4 – Abdul Latif alMuntasir (businessman): 21 April 1980, was assassinated in Beirut
5 – Gabriel Abdel Razek al-Dinaly (a police officer and a popular poet): 6 April 1985, was assassinated in Bonn, Germany