大家如何看待多国轰炸利比亚

永无止境

轰炸利比亚快5个月了，结果如何？
多国部队达到了什么结果？是人权的改善吗？大家可以再议议

一场街头示威，若干无辜者牺牲。一场漫长内战，毁掉的是一切。说一句漂亮话容易，重建一个社会很难。卡扎菲对一部分人犯 ...
排骨鱼 发表于 2011-8-8 13:12

追求秩序肯定是没错的，但关键是用什么手段追求什么样的“理想秩序”。最近看网上学者探讨关于儒家宪政主义在中国的可行性。有人反驳说，这就仿佛是在探讨出土的古代夜壶还能不能用。我想北非和中东国家也面临同样的问题。每个民族，特别是拥有复杂的历史文化和宗教传统的民族，对“现代国家”的概念都具有不同的理解，至于如何建设“现代国家”的问题，大家的观点差异就更大了。但无论怎样，我想尊重和宽容这种不同与差异对谁都是有益的。

排骨鱼

196# 永无止境
那天会上遇到你一个师妹，世界真小，呵呵

排骨鱼

这个贴子始于一个投票，只有1.75%的邻居选择了第三个“不清楚卡扎菲是否如海外媒体报道的那样用战机轰炸本国示威者，如果他这这样残暴，是应该制止这种屠杀”
说明我们国人能够抱着怀疑态度和客观精神来看世界的多稀少啊

最近看到的一篇文章说明了这种怀疑精神是多么可贵。
一个叫Thomas C. Mountain 的美国记者称，大赦国际和人权观察组织的观察员，通过在利比亚三个月的实地调查，发现促使多国部队发动轰炸的理由都是假的。
他们没有找到任何证据表明利比亚政府动用飞机屠杀示威者（我们多少邻居以此为论据？），曾使用非洲雇佣军，曾进行集体强奸。观察员说，没有发现一例强奸，也没有从一个医生那里找到证据。
在示威期间，迄今能证明的死亡人数为110人，而不是西方媒体宣传的上千人甚至上万人，这些人包括了亲卡扎菲者。
看了这些，那些曾经基于谎言的愤怒是不是应该转为对谎言本身的愤怒？可是这些愤怒对利比亚人又有什么意义？从轰炸开始以来，已经炸死了1100利比亚人，包括400名妇女儿童，另有6000人伤残。

这篇文章的标题是“利比亚战争的谎言更甚于伊拉克战争”，经历了这么多次谎言、忽悠、居高临下的指责和振振有词的粉饰，我们难道还看不透西方国家所谓民主、人权、正义、公平的真相吗？是真的看不透，还是被洗了脑不愿意看透？我崇尚民主、自由、正义，但我相信不是谁都可以自称代表它们。我们需要有自己的头脑，自己的眼睛。

当然，我们也不能完全相信这篇文章，正如以赛亚伯林所说，思想背后都有利益。不排除这篇文章也是有意为之。但至少我们应该得到一个启发：对所有的信息，都要慎重，不可盲从。
我一位好朋友曾说，很多国人的逻辑混乱难以置信，一方面他们高度认可西方思想中关于人都是自私的假设，另一方面却总认为美国等西方国家在国际事务中是无私的。不管自私还是无私，最好还是用前后一致的逻辑来看这个世界吧。


http://www.foreignpolicyjournal. ... es-worse-than-iraq/

Libya War Lies Worse Than Iraq
by Thomas C. Mountain
July 23, 2011

The lies used to justify the NATO war against Libya have surpassed
those created to justify the invasion of Iraq. Amnesty International
and Human Rights Watch both had honest observers on the ground for
months following the rebellion in eastern Libya and both have
repudiated every major charge used to justify the NATO war on Libya.

According to the Amnesty observer, who is fluent in Arabic, there is
not one confirmed instance of rape by the pro-Gadaffi fighters, not
even a doctor who knew of one. All the Viagra mass rape stories were
fabrications.

Amnesty could not verify a single “African mercenary” fighting for
Gaddafi story, and the highly charged international satellite
television accounts of African mercenaries raping women that were used
to panic much of the eastern Libyan population into fleeing their
homes were fabrications.

There were no confirmed accounts of helicopter gunships attacking
civilians and no jet fighters bombing people, which completely
invalidates any justification for the No-Fly Zone in the Security
Council resolution used as an excuse for NATO to launch its attacks on
Libya.

After three months on the ground in rebel controlled territory, the
Amnesty investigator could only confirm 110 deaths in Benghazi, which
included Gadaffi supporters.

Only 110 dead in Benghazi? Wait a minute, we were told thousands had
died there, ten thousand even. No, only 110 lost their lives,
including pro-government people.

No rapes, no African mercenaries, no helicopter gunships or bombers,
and only 110 ten deaths prior to the launch of the NATO bombing
campaign; every reason was based on a lie.

Today, according to the Libyan Red Crescent Society, over 1,100
civilians have been killed by NATO bombs, including over 400 women and
children. Over 6,000 Libyan civilians have been injured or wounded by
the bombing, many very seriously.

Compared to the war on Iraq, these numbers are tiny, but the reasons
for the Libyan war have no merit in any form.

Saddam Hussein was evil; he invaded his neighbors in wars that killed
up to a million. He used Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) in the form
of poison gas on both his neighbors and his own people, killing tens
of thousands. He was brutal and corrupt and when American tanks rolled
into Iraq the Iraqi people refused to fight for him, simply put their
weapons down and went home.

Libya under Col. Gadaffi hasn’t invaded their neighbors. Gadaffi never
used WMD on anyone, let alone his own people. As for Gadaffi being
brutal, in Libya’s neighbor Algeria, the Algerian military fought a
counterinsurgency for a decade in the 1990’s that witnessed the deaths
of some 200,000 Algerians. Now that is brutal and nothing anywhere
near this has happened in Libya.

In Egypt and Tunisia, western puppets like Mubarak and Ben Ali had
almost no support amongst their people with few if anyone willing to
fight and die to defend them.

The majority of the Libyan people are rallying behind the Libyan
government and “the leader”, Muammar Gadaffi, with over one million
people demonstrating in support on July 1 in Tripoli, the capital of
Libya. Thousands of Libyan youth are on the front lines fighting the
rebels and despite thousands of NATO air strikes, authentic
journalists on the ground in western Libya report that their morale
remains high.

In Egypt, the popular explosion that resulted in the Army seizing
power from Mubarak began in the very poorest neighborhoods in Cairo
and other Egyptian cities where the price of basic food items like
bread, sugar, and cooking oil had skyrocketed and led to widespread
hunger. In many parts of Egypt’s poor neighborhoods, gasoline/benzene
is easier to find then clean drinking water. Medical care and
education is only for those with the money to pay for it. Life for the
people of Tunisia is not that much better.

In contrast, the Libyan people have the longest life expectancy in the
Arab world. The Libyan people have the best, free public health system
in the Arab world. The Libyan people have the best, free public
education system in the Arab world. Most Libyan families own their own
home and most Libyan families own their own automobile. Libya is so
much better off than its neighbors every year tens of thousands of
Egyptians and Tunisians migrated to Libya to earn money to feed their
families, doing the dirty work the Libyan people refused to do.

When it comes to how Gadaffi oversaw a dramatic rise in the standard
of living for the Libyan people despite decades of UN inSecurity
Council sanctions against the Libyan economy, honest observers
acknowledge that Gadaffi stands head and shoulders above the kings,
sheiks, emirs and various dictators who rule the rest of the Arab
world.

So why did NATO launch this war against Libya?

First of all, Gadaffi was on the verge of creating a new banking
system in Africa that was going to put the IMF, World Bank, and
assorted other western banksters out of business in Africa. No more
predatory western loans used to cripple African economies; instead, a
$42 billion dollar African Investment Bank would be supplying major
loans at little or even zero interest rates.

Libya has funded major infrastructure projects across Africa that have
begun to link up African economies and break the perpetual dependency
on the western countries for imports. Here in Eritrea, the new road
connecting Eritrea and Sudan is just one small example.

What seems to have finally tipped the balance in favor of direct
western military intervention was the reported demand by Gadaffi that
the USA oil companies who have long been major players in the Libyan
petroleum industry were going to have to compensate Libya to the tune
of tens of billions of dollars for the damage done to the Libyan
economy by the USA instigated “Lockerbie Bombing” sanctions imposed by
the UN inSecurity Council throughout the 1990’s into early 2000’s.
This is based on the unearthing of evidence that the CIA paid millions
of dollars to witnesses in the Lockerbie Bombing trial to change their
stories to implicate Libya, which was used as the basis for the very
damaging UN sanctions against Libya. The government of the USA lied
and damaged Libya so the USA oil companies were going to have to pay
up to cover the cost of their government’s actions. Not hard to see
why Gadaffi had to go, is it?

Add the fact that Gadaffi had signaled clearly that he saw both
Libya’s and Africa’s future economic development linked more to China
and Russia, rather than the west, and it was just a matter of time
before the CIA’s contingency plan to overthrow the Libyan government
was put on the front burner.

NATO’s war against Libya has much more in common with NATO’s Kosovo
war against Serbia. But one still cannot compare Gadaffi to Saddam or
even the much smaller-time criminals in the Serbian leadership. The
Libyan War lies are worse than Iraq.

Thomas C. Mountain is an independent western journalist based in the
Horn of Africa, and has been living and reporting from Eritrea since
2006. He was a member of the 1st US Peace Delegation to Libya in 1987.
Read more articles by Thomas C. Mountain.

扣肉

仇恨积蓄了几十年，前几年的一次大屠杀就有一千多人遇害，上面提到的示威期间去世的110个人，还不到卡扎菲手里一次屠杀血债的零头（这些似乎都是“人权观察组织”、“大赦国际”报告的数字，可比较性应该很强吧），而卡扎菲还在扬言要用坦克去碾压示威民众。


http://qnck.cyol.com/content/2011-03/29/content_4290501.htm
那座监狱、那起惨案、那位律师……
扇动利比亚风暴的那只蝴蝶
2011-03-29 15:54
：：本报特约记者　姬贺礼

　　看着遍地狼烟的今日利比亚，局外人或许会问，这么大的一场风暴，谁是那一只扇动翅膀的蝴蝶？其实，利比亚的这场战争，或许得从２月１５日说起，那一天，在利比亚的第二大城市班加西，有示威者上街游行，抗议当局逮捕律师法思·特比尔。那天的示威，拉开了这场战争的序幕……

１．那座叫阿布·萨利姆的监狱

　　律师法思·特比尔，他的名字和阿布·萨利姆监狱联系在一起。

　　据人权观察组织介绍，在２０世纪７０年代、８０年代和９０年代，利比亚领导人卡扎菲为了将全国的持不同政见者一网打尽，让警察和安全人员在全国范围内大肆搜捕反对人士。当局还给批评人士冠以“流浪狗”（ｓｔｒａｙ　ｄｏｇ）的骂名。数千名利比亚男子因而锒铛入狱。这些囚犯中，既有伊斯兰主义者，也有世俗的反对者，但很多都是无辜者，他们只是在错误的时间呆在错误的地点而被抓。

　　最后，他们中的绝大多数被送往阿布·萨利姆监狱。这个监狱位于的黎波里郊区，戒备森严。实际上，这个阿布·萨利姆监狱究竟有多少人，至今仍不清楚，因为卡扎菲当局一直对此讳莫如深。人们知道的是，阿布·萨利姆如同人间地狱，条件恶劣不堪。曾在阿布·萨利姆待了整整７年的马哈茂德，回想起往事，至今仍心有余悸：“有一整年，我都没见过太阳。当他们（指狱警）用电棍拷打我们失效后，他们就减少我们的饭食，让我们饿着肚子。他们不把我们当人看，我们还不如动物。”

　　在西方人权组织看来，这个监狱在利比亚“臭名昭著”。１９９６年６月２９日，１２７０多名政治犯因抗议狱中不人道条件而哗变，随后惨遭杀害。卡扎菲政权毫不客气地将囚犯遗体送到郊外集体埋葬。死难囚犯绝大多数来自班加西。在利比亚，这个惨案又叫“阿布·萨利姆大屠杀”。国际特赦组织呼吁对１９９６年的这次大屠杀展开独立调查。西方媒体通常称这事为“阿布·萨利姆监狱大屠杀”。

　　按曾在该监狱做饭的萨法伊（现已在美国居住）所说，在１９９６年６月２８日下午４点４０分，第４区的囚犯劫持两名狱卒，数百囚犯从第３、第５和第６区逃跑，他们对不能见家属以及监狱条件差深恶痛绝。后来，狱方答应与囚犯谈判。囚犯释放了一名狱卒（另一名狱卒已死）。到了６月２９日，１２７０名囚犯聚在天井里，准备和闻讯而来的卡扎菲的连襟阿卜杜拉·森努西谈判，但他却下令让屋顶的卫兵开枪。这被视作有预谋的屠杀。

　　在短短３个小时之内，１２７０条人命就没了。在利比亚内战前，“阿布·萨利姆监狱大屠杀”被认为是卡扎菲执政期间规模最大、最残酷的一次镇压行动。

２．那个叫森努西的官员

　　人权观察组织２００４年对这次屠杀进行了调查，根据调查，卡扎菲的连襟阿卜杜拉·森努西不但没与囚犯举行谈判，反倒下令全副武装的军队上到监狱房顶，并命令军队用机关枪扫射那些在监狱空地上集会的犯人。

　　据英国《卫报》２０１１年２月２２日的报道，如果说卡扎菲今年听从手下建议，不惜一切挽救其政权的话，这个建议很可能就来自森努西。森努西被视为卡扎菲最信任的得力干将。自２０世纪７０年代以来，森努西就因残忍无情而臭名昭著。在卡扎菲的反对派列出的有关“战犯名单”上，他排在第二位，仅次于卡扎菲。利比亚的一名前“圣战战士”诺曼·贝诺特曼非常了解森努西，“森努西就是死也支持卡扎菲。这个家伙没有城府，但非常残忍。他俩都同意靠武力来镇压起义。”

　　在２０世纪８０年代初，森努西是卡扎菲政权负责内部安全的头目，卡扎菲政权的很多反对者就是死于他手。一名流亡外国的利比亚人声称，在整个利比亚，人们都害怕森努西，“因为他嗜血成性”。他是卡扎菲的左膀右臂、耳目和命令的执行者。卡扎菲走到哪儿，他就跟到哪儿。

３．那些要讨个说法的死者家属

　　多年来，利比亚政府矢口否认曾发生过监狱屠杀事件。直到２００４年，卡扎菲自己才承认有这么一回事。他当时说，犯人家属有权知道有关这次事件的更多信息。但是，时至今日，卡扎菲政权仍未正式发布有关此事的详细情况。惨案的消息通过各种途径传出后，由于忌惮卡扎菲的独裁统治，不少死者的家属噤若寒蝉。但随着卡扎菲政权在该问题上的态度松动，恨透了卡扎菲政权的死难者家属开始冒险抗议，向政府讨要说法。这些死难者家属的主要诉求是：弄清亲人尸体的下落、明确这次大屠杀的责任人、寻求相应的赔偿。

　　据《爱尔兰时报》２０１１年３月３日报道，自２００７年至今，每逢周六，不少妇女就会聚在班加西市面朝大海的法院门前，她们的诉求只有一个，就是讨一个说法。她们都披着黑色的衣服，举着相框，泪眼滂沱。相框里的照片，是她们的父亲、丈夫、儿子或兄弟。她们所知道的是，卡扎菲的安全人员将她们的亲人带走了，这一别就是永诀。这个妇女群体有个名字，那就是“阿布·萨利姆家属”——她们的亲人永远消失在利比亚戒备最为森严的监狱中。

　　２００８年１２月，在北班加西法庭的裁决下，利比亚当局开始向死难者家属发放死亡证明，但证明矢口不提死因与１９９６年监狱屠杀有关。当局愿意提供巨额补偿，以换取这些家庭不再对利比亚当局采取进一步法律行动。班加西绝大多数的遇难者家属拒绝接受这种赔偿条款，并坚持要求查明真相。

　　娜迪亚·特比尔是律师法思·特比尔的姐姐。她捧着一个精致的相框，里面是她丈夫贾马尔的遗照。１９８９年，时年２７岁的贾马尔被卡扎菲的安全人员拘捕。娜迪亚告诉前来采访的记者，“我们不是要钱，我们是要讨一个说法。我们只是想知道，我们的亲人到底怎么样了。”另外，律师法思·特比尔的一个哥哥伊斯梅尔也在那次惨案中失踪。

　　在她们中间，还有七八十岁的老太太，她们的膝盖上，放着早已褪色的照片，老泪纵横。一名老太太的一个儿子在１９７７年就被逮捕。多年以前，当局告诉她，不要再来看他了。这句话撕裂了她的心。班加西居民萨拉赫说：“阿布·萨利姆是我们国家最深的伤口。每次我从这些抗议的妇女身旁走过，我都忍不住泪如泉涌。”

　　其实，当年的死者很多都是非常年轻的男子，有些还稚气未脱。在１９９３年，２３岁的贩卖衣服的阿克拉姆·朱比消失了。后来，他的家人听一名获释的狱友讲，阿克拉姆死于大屠杀。阿克拉姆的弟弟讲述了犯人在狱中抗议的情况：“他们（犯人们）说，‘我们希望改善条件，因为我们的生活和动物没两样。’他们根本不敢奢望获释，只是希望得到和其他地方的囚犯一样的对待。他们说，‘我们想呼吸，想看看太阳，想活下去。’”阿克拉姆的姐姐法伊扎义愤填膺地说：“他并没参与政治，他的罪名只是在清真寺祈祷而已。我们想知道到底谁杀害了他，为什么要杀他。我们要求正义。”

４．送了１４年的食物和衣物

　　在家属们看来，亲人未经审判，就被投入大牢，理由无非是涉嫌反抗政府。

　　多年以来，这些死难囚犯的家属一直以为亲人还在狱中，一直去探监，给他们的亲人带吃的和穿的，狱方也不让他们会面，实际上，他们早就死于非命了。一个名叫法阿德·阿萨德·本·奥马兰的男子说：“我们送了１４年的衣物、食物和药物，直到有一天，他们告诉我，他已经死了。”奥马兰提及他死于狱中的姐夫，伤心欲绝。“他们告诉我们，他在监狱，但他们不允许我们看他。政府说我们可以每隔两个月来探一次监。”

　　这些妇女认为，没有她们，２０１１年的这次起义就不会发生。她们要让卡扎菲永远记住这次惨案。

５．那位８次被捕的律师

　　美国国家公共电台２月２８日披露，法思·特比尔是个律师，也是“阿布·萨利姆家属”团体的发言人。在当年那１２７０多名遇难者中，有３名特比尔的家属——他的一个哥哥、一个堂兄以及一个姐夫。

　　多年来，他几乎每周都要在法院门前进行孤独的抗议，以讨回公道。他说，“这些囚犯哗变、要求更好的生活条件、公正的判决以及探访权。这个残忍的政权在３个小时内就屠杀了他们，并试图掩盖犯罪事实。”他此前７次被捕，频遭拷打。

　　今年２月１５日，在班加西，卡扎菲政权再次将他逮捕。然而，在中东风起云涌的抗议浪潮之下，法思·特比尔被捕点燃了利比亚的火药桶。死难者家属上街抗议，与此事无关的数千名当地人也走上街头，要求释放他。一个新时代的序幕就此拉开。

　　法思·特比尔后来透露：“２月１５日，大约２０个全副武装的安全人员到我家中，将我逮捕。这个消息很快就在遇难者家属中传播开来，他们决定示威，要求释放我。”２月１６日破晓，他被释放了，但卡扎菲当局仍不让民众继续抗议。随后的２月１７日，班加西的街头抗议演变成暴力冲突。

　　法思·特比尔也亲口说：“是我们这些阿布·萨利姆家属，点燃了这场革命。利比亚人早已准备起义，因为他们都经历了司法的不公。但他们需要一个由头，而释放包括我在内的人，就是他们群起抗议的理由。”现在，他已经是设在班加西的过渡政府委员会的一员，但他仍很谦虚。他认为自己没能力或野心来领导这次革命。他说，他也没意愿来领导利比亚。他说：“我希望他（卡扎菲）面临公正的审判。”中东在线网站２月２７日评论说，年轻的法思·特比尔没一点架子，也不装腔作势。他敢于挑战卡扎菲，他已成为“反卡扎菲起义”的面孔之一。

　　现年３９岁的法思·特比尔说自己仍没时间谈恋爱。他惟一的娱乐就是看比赛。当这一切都结束后，他只想与某个女孩约会，然后稳定下来。

排骨鱼

我相信这些可能是事实（但是当初关于飞机轰炸示威者和有组织强奸的文章也都是言之凿凿，流传甚广。真假谁辩？）。
但是如果这些可以作为发动一场战争的理由，人们为什么还要编造谎言呢？
如果因此可以摧毁一个国家，在亚非拉还有几个国家能幸免？普遍的战争和无政府状态就更加正义？
西方的法学界似乎还没能回答这个问题。我们谁能？

扣肉

发动战争的理由（说是借口也行），安理会决议里面写的很清楚了，没有说轰炸示威者，也没有提强奸。

关于轰炸，不受北约控制、也不受大陆待见的半岛电视台就有报道，是援引利比亚飞行员的话，大意是说：不愿意轰炸平民，所以叛逃。这应该算是轰炸平民的旁证了。

关于组织强奸，应该是指有一条报道--卡扎菲给部队发伟哥，进而有人怀疑目的是为了强奸。这种花边新闻流传甚广一点儿不奇怪，但说言之凿凿有点儿夸张了。

另外很多报道，仔细看的话，就会发现很多语言是：援引xxx的说法，据消息灵通人士报道.....从字面看，充其量是传谣。大量消息，不管是卡扎菲的还是北约的还是反对派的，各种说法都可以在报道中见到，在谁都不知道真相的情况下，孰真孰假，请看官自行判断。
前面的大赦国际的说法也是这样，他们不说：利比亚没有雇佣军；而是说：没有发现有非洲雇佣军的证据。不过大赦国际没有证据，不意味着别人的证据就是假的，关于雇佣军的报道可是多如牛毛。
（要提醒大家的是：上面大赦国际的调查在反对派控制地区进行，卡扎菲控制的地区是不允许自由采访的，什么人不希望别人知道真相？）

九九归一

卡扎菲终于要倒台了。

百年糊涂

好久没来了，看了这些讨论还是忍不住说两句。
感到高兴的是，还有很多人在这里讨论问题，而且讨论的尺度更加理性。
对于这个问题我们不一定要有一个答案或者结论，可能会有不同的结论，而且根据事件的发展，这些结论也会修正甚至推翻。
提个问题：我们中间会有多少人了解我们自己的近现代史呢？如果你说很了解，那就难以摆脱偏激的怀疑，就算专门研究这个领域的学者也难说真的了解，不同的学者也会有不同的看法，对于利比亚，我们很多人了解的可能更少。
说这些的意思是，希望我们讨论这个问题的时候少下一些结论，更多的是去发现问题、探讨问题。
非常喜欢看排骨鱼、扣肉、永无止境等诸多高邻的讨论。

森林精灵

美国又一次胜利了，历史当然由胜利者书写，卡扎菲只会是罪人的下场，如果想要扭转必需打败美国。像毛主席那样，至少能把美国打跑。

九九归一

我们尊重南斯拉夫人民的选择，我们尊重罗马尼亚人民的选择，我们尊重埃及人民的选择，我们尊重伊拉克人民的选择，我们尊重突尼斯人民的选择，我们尊重叙利亚人民的选择，我们尊重利比亚人民的选择......

祝中国人民的老朋友们好运。

雨楼听风

美国又一次胜利了，历史当然由胜利者书写，卡扎菲只会是罪人的下场，如果想要扭转必需打败美国。像毛主席那样，至少能把美国打跑。
森林精灵 发表于 2011-8-24 11:01

这位毛粉很给力啊！

新城清洁工

傻逼美国和西方，强权政治。

九九归一

卡扎菲死了

西夏名猪

看看下一个倒台的独裁者是谁。。。

gunsmoke

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/ ... birth?newsfeed=true
Muammar Gaddafi, the 'king of kings' dies in city of his birth

Libya's former leader killed by rebels in Sirte in wake of French airstrike, although precise details of his death remain unclear

     

    Peter Beaumont
    guardian.co.uk, Thursday 20 October 2011 21.54 BST
    Article history

A picture of Gaddafi in the ashes in downtown Sirte, Libya
A picture of Gaddafi in the ashes in downtown Sirte, Libya. Photograph: Bela Szandelszky/AP

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was born in Sirte, and when he became the ruler of all Libya, he transformed it from an insignificant fishing village into the country's sprawling second city. On Thursday, after a brutal – and ultimately hopeless – last stand, it was the place where he died.

For the past three weeks, with Gaddafi's whereabouts still unknown, government fighters had been puzzled by the bitter and determined resistance from loyalist fighters. Trapped in a tiny coastal strip just a few hundred metres wide, they had refused to give up, even when a victory by the forces of Libya's National Transitional Council seemed inevitable.

Here at last was the answer: they had been fighting to the death with their once-great leader in their midst.

The emergencies director of Human Rights Watch, Peter Bouckaert, was one of those in Sirte during the final battle. "A very heavy bombardment started at midnight with shelling of the remaining strongholds with Grad rockets that went on until 6am," he told the Guardian. "I went down to the city centre at 9am and went in with the fighters from Benghazi who said the whole city was free.

"I went to the hospital and a fighter arrived with a gold pistol he said he had taken from Gaddafi. He said there had been a fight with a convoy of people trying to flee. Mansour Dhou [Sirte's pro-Gaddafi military commander] was also in the clinic, shot in the stomach. He said they had been trying to flee and were caught in gunfire, which is when he lost consciousness. He confirmed Gaddafi was with him."

While details of the precise circumstances of Gaddafi's death remained confused and contradictory last night, it appears he was trying to flee the city in a convoy of cars when they came under attack from Nato jets. Last night the French claimed responsibilty for the airstrike.

The convoy was then apparently caught in a gun battle with fighters loyal to the National Transitional Council, Libya's interim government. Possibly wounded in the shootout, Libya's former ruler crawled into a drain; later he was set upon by revolutionary fighters, one of whom beat him with a shoe.

Witnesses said he perished pleading for mercy after being dragged out of a hiding place inside a concrete drain. According to one fighter, the dying Gaddafi demanded: "What have I done to you?"

Abdel-Jalil Abdel-Aziz, a doctor who accompanied Gaddafi's body in an ambulance as it was taken from Sirte, said he died from two shots, to the head and chest. "I can't describe my happiness," he told the Associated Press. "The tyranny is gone. Now the Libyan people can rest.

Amid the swirl of contradictory reports, one thing was clear: Gaddafi's death was a humiliating end for a man once used to surrounding himself with cheering crowds of supporters. Video images that emerged showed him being bundled bloodied on to the back of a pick-up truck, surrounded by fighters waving guns and shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is great).

At first Gaddafi was apparently able to walk with assistance before being lifted on to the truck's tailgate. A second clip, however, showed him lifeless. In the second sequence, the tunic over one of his shoulders was heavily bloodstained.

Also killed was one of Gaddafi's sons, Mutassim, a military officer who had commanded the defence of Sirte for his father, according to NTC officials. Gaddafi's second son, Saif al-Islam, was also said to have been arrested, although the news could not immediately be confirmed.

After his death, Gaddafi's body was taken – accompanied by a huge convoy of celebrating revolutionaries –to Misrata, two hours away. In Misrata – which itself went through a bitter siege during Libya's eight-month civil war – the body was paraded through the streets on a truck, surrounded by crowds chanting, "The blood of the martyrs will not go in vain."

Bouckaert said: "I followed the convoy with the body to Misrata, where it was displayed. I have seen a lot of celebrations in Libya but never one like this."

Across Libya, as the news broke, there were celebrations. "We have been waiting for this moment for a long time," the Libyan prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril, told a news conference.

In Tripoli there were volleys of celebratory gunfire as vast crowds waving the red, black and green national flag adopted by the NTC gathered in Martyr's Square – once the setting for mass rallies in praise of the "Brother Leader".

Jibril said: "We confirm that all the evils, plus Gaddafi, have vanished from this beloved country. It's time to start a new Libya, a united Libya. One people, one future." A formal declaration of liberation would be made by Friday, he added later.

The death of Gaddafi and the fall of Sirte opens the way to national elections which – it had already been announced – would take place eight months after "full liberation" had been achieved.

In London, David Cameron hailed Gaddafi's death as a step towards a "strong and democratic future" for the north African country. Speaking in Downing Street after Jibril officially confirmed the death of the dictator, Cameron said he was proud of the role Britain had played in Nato airstrikes to protect Libyan civilians after the uprising against Gaddafi's rule began in February.

Cameron added that it was a time to remember Gaddafi's victims, including the policewoman Yvonne Fletcher, who was gunned down in a London street in 1984, the 270 people who died when Pan-Am flight 103 was destroyed by a bomb over Lockerbie in 1988, and all those killed by the IRA using Semtex explosives supplied by the Libyan dictator. Nato commanders will meet on Friday to consider ending the coalition's campaign in Libya.

Gaddafi, 69, is the first leader to be killed in the Arab spring, the wave of popular uprisings that swept the Middle East demanding the end of autocratic rulers and greater democracy.

He was one of the world's most mercurial leaders. He seized power in 1969 and dominated Libya with a regime that often seemed run by his whims. But his acts brought international condemnation and isolation to his country.

When the end came for Gaddafi it was not as his son Saif al-Islam once promised, with the regime fighting to "its last bullet". Instead, the man who once styled himself "the king of the kings" of Africa was cornered while attempting to escape with his entourage in a convoy of cars after a final 90-minute assault on the last few loyalist positions in Sirte's District Two.

Last night the charred remains of 15 pickup trucks lay burned out on a roadside where Gaddafi's convoy had attempted to punch through NTC lines. Inside the ruined vehicles sat the charred skeletons; other bodies lay strewn on the grass.

Gaddafi and a handful of his men appear to have escaped death, and hidden in two drainage pipes choked with rubbish.

Government troops gave chase, said Salem Bakeer, a fighter who was on the scene at the last moment. "One of Gaddafi's men came out waving his rifle in the air and shouting surrender, but as soon as he saw my face he started shooting at me," he told Reuters. "Then I think Gaddafi must have told them to stop. 'My master is here, my master is here', he said, 'Muammar Gaddafi is here and he is wounded'," said Bakeer. "We went in and brought Gaddafi out. He was saying 'What's wrong? What's wrong? What's going on?'. Then we took him and put him in the car."

With its fall, the city of Sirte was transformed from a potent image of Gaddafi's rule to the symbol of his gruesome end. Even as Gaddafi's body was being driven away, the drain where he was found was being immortalised in blue aerosol paint. On it, someone wrote: "The hiding place of the vile rat Gaddafi."