TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) – A bone wrapped with rope and skull fragments scattered over a cactus-covered desert field are grim testament to a 1996 massacre of more than 1,200 prisoners by Moammar Gadhafi’s regime.
Libyan officials announced Sunday that they found a mass grave believed to hold the remains of the victims outside the white walls of Tripoli’s Abu Salim prison, where Gadhafi locked up and tortured opponents or simply made them disappear. Excavation has not begun, but several bone fragments and pieces of clothing already have been found in the topsoil.
Those bones could offer some of the most damning evidence of the brutality of Gadhafi’s nearly 42-year rule, and allow relatives of the victims to learn the truth about their fates after years of regime stonewalling. They also hold symbolic importance to the Libyan revolution itself, which was sparked in mid-February in the eastern city of Benghazi by demonstrators demanding the release of a prominent lawyer representing the families of slain inmates.
“We have discovered the truth about what the Libyan people have been waiting for for many years, and it is the bodies and remains of the Abu Salim massacre,” military spokesman Khalid al-Sherif said at a news conference.
Soldiers and relatives sifted through the sand during a visit Sunday, displaying a pair of pants and other remains for reporters brought to the site. One bone had a rope tied around it, possibly from a prisoner who had been bound. A group of former rebels at the site shouted “Allahu Akbar” – “God is great” – as relatives wandered through the area.