Joy & Hope 4: Evil and change

NOTE: Click thumbnails for larger images

Besides our election work, there were a few other things we wanted to do in whatever free time we had. Most importantly, we wanted to see whichever friends we could (see this page). But there were also two infamous sites we knew we had to visit if we had the chance: two of the greatest symbols of the evil that had governed Libya for decades. Being able to visit and walk through those sites, troubling as they would be, would be more proof of the freedom Libyans had won.

Bab al Aziziya was Gaddafi’s former compound; the former Abu Salim Prison is one of the most notorious places in Libya, and the site of Gaddafi’s greatest crime against his own people; we went there on our last full day in Libya.

 

Abu Salim Prison: A place of pure evil

NOTE: These comments were what I’d written the day after visiting the site, and posted on my old Libya Toronto blog.

Abu Salim was the place where political prisoners (often jailed without trial) were kept in barbaric conditions, beaten and tortured “when necessary”. On June 28, 1996, many of the prisoners revolted, demanding the most basic of human rights (decent food, family visits, fresh air). A guard was seized; by the end of the day, he and six prisoners were killed. The next day, an agreement was reached with Gaddafi’s security chief and brother-in-law, Abdullah el-Sanussi [update: he is himself under arrest in Libya and awaiting trial]. The agreement stated that many of their conditions would be met, sick prisoners would be taken to hospital for treatment, and so the prisoners surrendered.

But the agreement was worthless; prisoners were lined up in the courtyards, blindfolded and bound, and gunned down. Those taken away in ambulances were also murdered.

Almost 1300 prisoners were killed in one day. Their bodies have never been found, and it was years before the government even admitted they were dead. Family members continued to visit the prison, bringing clothes and food for their murdered fathers and sons.

But revenge came eventually, as it was the women whose family members were killed who continued to protest, asking for justice, marching regularly in Benghazi that eventually led to the Feb. 17, 2011 “Day of Rage”, and the beginning of Gaddafi’s end and Libya’s freedom.

Finally, when Tripoli fell on the weekend of Aug. 20-21, 2011, the prison was entered, and the citizens of Tripoli broke all the locks, freed Gaddafi’s prisoners, and ended the life of this evil prison.

Last night, we went there with our friends Abdulsalam and Khaled. On the way, Khaled pointed out places where some of his friends were killed by snipers last year.

We could feel the evil as we approached the place, and it became more and more oppressive. We met a man cleaning up the grounds who was a former prisoner and he showed us around. We saw murals, painted since the prison’s liberation, depicting the killings and beatings, and we went to the political prisoner wing, witnessing terrible cells, where 6 to 7 men could be housed in a tiny cell in primitive conditions. We walked into the courtyards where the slaughter took place. (See photo above with Khaled). We — and especially Khaled and Abdulsalam — couldn’t take any more, so we left, unable to shake the evil for a long time.

The contrast between Abu Salim and the joy and hope we felt on the streets the day we arrived, along with the determination and spirit of the Libyans we saw and spoke with on election day were of course connected, but we understood much better now what we had witnessed on Election Day.

Some stories about Abu Salim:

• The Guardian: photos after the prison was liberated 
• Huffington Post/Human Rights Watch: Abu Salim Remembered

Bab al Aziziya

The day before our Abu Salim visit, our friend Bilgasem took us through Gaddafi’s former compound, Bab al-Aziziya. This was a forbidding place, built by the East Germans:  experts in how to protect leaders from their people who “love them”. Various Libyans told us in the past when they passed, they were afraid to even look at it.

Now, NATO and Libyans have reduced it to rubble and a garbage dump. An appropriate, fate, although there are now stories that a permanent Parliament will be built on its grounds.

Gaddafi and his evil are gone, and it’s now up to the Libyans to make sure nothing like his tyranny will ever happen here again. I have faith they will.

Insha’allah.

 

Leptis Magna

On a more positive note, several of our group also took in one of Libya’s magnificent ancient Roman treasures: Leptis Magna. Founded around 1100 BC,  it became one of the greatest cities in the Roman Empire, especially when the Libyan Septimus Severus became   Roman Emperor. It declined, inevitably, and eventually was covered by the Saharan sands.

That was the reason it is so well preserved now. It’s one of the few places in the world one can get a sense of what a great, wealthy Roman city was like. Like other Libyan tourism gems, one of its attractions is the ability to walk freely around this great UNESCO World Heritage site, with few other tourists.

But on this visit, so soon after the end of the fighting, it was virtually empty. A great chance to feel that Leptis was “ours”. The only mistake we made was going there mid-day. Oksana had warned the others that it was crazy to go there at noon in 40+C temperatures, but travel there we did. Ali & Khaled drove the group; Khaled had the sense to not join us walking the extensive grounds. As a former tourist guide, he had toured it many times.

It was our second time at Leptis, but it was still breathtaking. Libya has such tourist potential, but so much to overcome before it can begin to tap into that. It will come.

Insha’allah.

(2013 update: Some terrific photos of Leptis and other Libyan sites by National Geographic for its February, 2013 cover story. Be sure to see the George Steinmetz photos). 

Schools

All the polling stations we visited were in schools. It was our first experience in Libyan schools, and it was eye-opening. We had understood that the Libyan education system was poor. Gaddafi’s “Green Book” was at the core of all curriculum, and teachers and principals were often appointed and promoted based on their expertise in it. Like the health care system (most Libyans would go to Tunisia or Egypt for health care if they could), it was criminally underfunded, given the country’s wealth.

We saw the condition of some of the schools: windows falling off, blackboards almost unusable, without computers, or other important equipment.

But we also saw some students’ school projects, reflecting the world around them for the past year. One housed a multi-part triptych, depicting with dolls, toy cars and houses the great battles of 2011: tanks rolling toward Benghazi, yellow-helmeted mercenaries shooting people in the street, the near destruction of Misrata. One school had a map of some of the streets of Tripoli showing how the resistance rose up on the weekend of Aug. 20-21.

Khaled saw a project in one school where the children wrote their notes of memories and appreciation of all those who fell.  He started to describe it, but stopped, and wasn’t able to speak again for about 5 minutes.

Oksana, as a former educator, was introduced to several teachers and principals, and sometimes got a tour of the school. The newly-appointed principal who took her around one school emphasized that the only priority was “the kids” – unlike, I assume, his predecessor whose education view may have been oriented around that Green Book.

Next: Reunions with old friends