Libya’s former leader Muammar Qaddafi was killed after he was captured in his birth city of Sirte, according to the doctor who performed DNA tests on his body on Friday.
Dr. Ibrahim Tika was talking to Al Arabiya when he said Qaddafi was hit by a bullet in the head and another in the stomach. Tika said Qaddafi’s son Motassim was killed after his father died and that he was shot in the upper part of his chest from a short distance.
There are still question marks surrounding Qaddafi’s death, specifically when it occurred. Mobile phone footage appears to show him as captured in a bloodied state but still alive before news of his death broke.
The spokesperson for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights on Friday called for an investigation into Qaddafi’s death. “There should be some kind of investigation given what we saw yesterday,” Rupert Colville told a news briefing in Geneva.
“The two videos ... taken together are very disturbing,” noted Colville when speaking about the footage that has been circulating on the internet since news of Qaddafi’s death was reported.
In one video, Qaddafi can be seen being beaten by his captors as he pleads for mercy.
An international commission of inquiry, launched by the U.N. Human Rights Council, is already investigating killings, torture and other crimes in Libya. Colville said he expected the mission to look into the circumstances of Qaddafi’s death.
“It is a fundamental principle of international law that people accused of serious crimes should, if possible, be tried. Summary executions are strictly illegal. It is different if someone is killed in combat,” he told Reuters Television.
Nevertheless, news of Qaddafi’s demise and the fall of Sirte have been celebrated as a “new era”.
“One key aspect to obtain closure on the legacy of Qaddafi would be to ensure that justice is done,” Colville added.
An NTC commander at the cold storage Friday said Qaddafi’s body would be buried within 24 hours, with dignity and according to Islamic rites.
But a Libyan official said that Qaddafi’s burial has been delayed until his death has been examined by the International Criminal Court.
Mohamed Sayeh, a senior member of the governing National Transitional Council, says a “third party will come from outside of Libya to go through the paperwork.”
Sayeh also says Qaddafi’s body is still in Misrata, where it was taken after his killing in Sirte. He says Qaddafi will be buried in accordance to Islamic tradition but he will not have a public funeral.
The delay in his burial is a result of the release of bloody images of Qaddafi’s last moments which have raised questions over the exact nature of his death after he was captured wounded, but alive.
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