One curious side-show of the collapse of Mu'ammar al-Qaddafi's regime is a revelation about his (possibly adopted) daughter Hana, born on November 11, 1985.
Qaddafi repeatedly claimed that this child, six months old at the time of the U.S. strike on Libya in April 1986, had been killed in that attack. In contrast, many observers (including myself) counter-claimed that the child either did not exist or was not his.
Turns out, both sides were wrong. She was his daughter and she survived the attack. Martin Evans reports in the The Daily Telegraph that
Rebels searching Gaddafi's Bab al-Azizia base, discovered a series of documents and photographs suggesting a bedroom in the complex belonged to a young female medical graduate by the name of Hana Gaddafi. The room was furnished in a western style and contained items including CDs, a Sex and the City box set, a poster of the American band the Backstreet Boys, cellulite treatments and WellWoman vitamins.
Hana al-Qaddafi as a 20-year-old and as a baby.
A journalist from the Irish Times, who gained access to the room also discovered a passport, photographs and other personal documents bearing the name Hana Gaddafi. One certificate that was discovered recorded the fact a student by the name of Hana Moammer Gaddafi obtained an A grade in an English course run by the British Council in Tripoli in July 2007.
Qaddafi exploited Hana's alleged death to rally Libyans against the West; and it may have played a role in his decision to help with the 1988 bombing of Pan Am 103.
 An exam paper at a medical faculty signed "Hanna Mu'ammar Qaddafi" in Arabic. |
Comment: This sordid little story confirms, as if more proof were needed, that tyrants will fabricate about anything, even the deaths of their own family members. (August 26, 2011)
