Gaddafi dead?

[Ponders]

\link{http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/10/20111020111520869621.html\al jazeera}

[LaurieFairyCake]

Captured not dead - badly wounded in both legs according to BBC.

Yeah!!!!!

I want the fucker to stand trial.

[EdithWeston]

I've just posted on the "chat" thread.

Reports if his capture have yet to be independently verified.

Beeb is reporting he has leg injuries and is being transferred to hospital. Perhaps an independent (international?) observer will be able to see him there and provide the confirmation needed.

[crazynannawitchbitch]

Stand trial? With no legs?

[Ponders]

reuters reporting he's dead

[EdithWeston]

It's possible both versions are true!

All we can do now is wait for an official, verified account.

[StickyGhost]

Wow! Hope it's true he's been found, evil evil man. He deserves to stand trial (bet he'll develop some life threatening illness if he does though like all corrput ex-leaders do in that situation..........Mubarak anyone?)

[LemonPeel]

oh fuck, just posted a thread in chat too.!!

[EdithWeston]

BBC saying the Libyan Govt will be holding a press conference shortly.

They seem to have dropped the "unconfirmed" bit from the reports, which suggests that the wording about the invitation to the press conference has indirectly confirmed they've got him.

[laptopwieldingharpy]

Watching the footage. Its him.

[Ripeberry]

I was just going to post a thread. Graphic photos, but you can't mistake it's him.

[GhoulyNuff]

CTV and CBC are both reporting that it is confirmed that he is dead.

[wannaBe]

who is confirming it though?

I'm a bit of any of these reports given the amount of his children they have killed/captured only for them to appear in the town square the next day to proclaim their alive-ness.

[Hassled]

I thought people were thinking he'd left Sirte a while back?
Gruesome picture on BBC does look like him, though.

[LIZS]

Don't need to see close up on the BBC homepage thank you. He was never going to be taken alive and put on trial - too much scope for fanatics and martyrdom.

[EdithWeston]

It was confirmed by Mahmoud Jibril.

It is wrong to parade the dead, in person or on TV. If this was during war it would be a breach of the Geneva Convention.

(If you want to see the palliness of the UK Govt, BTW - google Tony Blair, Libya and 2006. I don't particularly want to rake over that particular nadir, but thoughtit might be worth signposting it in case anyone is interested).

[TheOriginalFAB]

I just looked at the photos and one of them didn't look like him enough to stop conspiracy theories.

If he is dead that is the easy way out for him. He should have been captured and made to pay for what he has done.

[LemonPeel]

There will always be conspiracy theorys over stuff like this. Photos are not enough for alot of people.

[laptopwieldingharpy]

Dont you love cnn headlines? Breaking news: ghaddafi dead - political implications for Obama.
Ok its an election year, but who honestly gives a toss in the big mess that is us foreign policy?

[BadgersPaws]

"It is wrong to parade the dead, in person or on TV. If this was during war it would be a breach of the Geneva Convention."

I'm not saying that I agree with what's happening but I don't think the Geneva convention has anything to say about it. There is something about not allowing bodies to be deliberately mistreated, which might well cover some a lot of what's happening but doesn't actually prohibit them being shown on TV.

[chill1243]

I would prefer that he had faced trial But as Laptop says what can we do about very messy foreign policy. I dont agree with mistreating bodies; but we must realise what many libyans have been put through. A giant nightmare
(privately Dave c will be taking some credit for the dictators death)

[EdithWeston]

The Geneva Convention provides (in respect of battlefield dead) a prohibition on deliberate mistreatment of the body, either through failure to treat it with appropriate respect or through mutilation. Parading on TV falls foul of that first condition - as reiterated by the international community, especially UK and US in 2003 in respect of bodies of coalition service personnel paraded before cameras.

[BadgersPaws]

"Parading on TV falls foul of that first condition"

It doesn't have to, it's open to argument and interpretation, showing bodies on TV is not flat out against the convention.

A recent example being the death of two of Saddam Hussein's children in a firefight after the invasion of Iraq. Footage of their bodies was released, but efforts were made to be somewhat respectful.

I'm not sure that I actually do want to go and watch the footage, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if what is happening is against the convention. However that would be because of how the body is actually being treated rather than just being shown on TV.

[EdithWeston]

I also cited the international community precedent from Iraq in 2003.

It's a side issue here, of course, because Libya was not at war and for that reason it does not apply. (I mentioned it because the actually circumstances of sectarian combat were more like war than crime).

I would be interested in examples of parading war dead for cameras (ie like today, whilst being manhandled and treated disrespectfully) that have not been considered a breach.