LIBYA/FILE: Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi demolish main mosque in Zawiyah after rebels used it for last stand

Record ID: 722426

  • Title: LIBYA/FILE: Forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi demolish main mosque in Zawiyah after rebels used it for last stand
  • Date: 6th April 2011
  • Summary: ZAWIYAH, LIBYA (FILE - FEBRUARY 27, 2011) (REUTERS) LIBYAN REBEL FLAG FLYING OVER CENTRAL ZAWIYAH / MOSQUE NEAR MARTYR'S SQUARE DAMAGE TO DOME CLOSE OF DAMAGE MOSQUE MINARET
  • Embargoed: 21st April 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: War / Fighting
  • Reuters ID: LVA3NLDDXXZFNWYOMRZFA82ZP0CI
  • Story Text: In the days that preceded Western air force intervention, the Libyan revolt against Muammar Gaddafi's 42-year rule seemed to be coming to a violent end.
    Zawiyah was the closest town to the capital Tripoli to fall completely into rebel hands, and fierce fighting ensued for a lengthy period.
    Rebels used the town's main mosque as a base to fight Gaddafi's troops from, sometimes holding soldiers as prisoners inside.
    Once the town fell back into Gaddafi's control, his forces bulldozed the mosque to the ground, a move that would usually outrage a local population.
    A group of foreign journalists were led to the area in Martyrs Square where the mosque once stood and told by accompanying information ministry officials that it was demolished because rebels had drunk alcohol and turned parts into a brothel.
    There was no way to independently verify these claims.
    A resident of Zawiyah, closely watched by a government minder off camera, reiterated the government's story.
    "I'll tell you what happened to the mosque, even when they (the rebels) were in the mosque, they weren't praying in it. They were praying outside, secondly the mosque had alcohol and an interrogation room where a number of people were killed, so when you get to a degree that a mosque contains alcohol and killing within, it is no longer a mosque," Ifitouri Thaw said.
    Security guard Isa al-Ghali said he was on standby should rebels reappear.
    "We are here guarding the street to see if an emergency develops we will defend ourselves," he said.
    The town's large police station is still burnt out and windows smashed with pictures appearing to show torture marks on victims lying around the floor of the station.
    Journalists were then led to the town's main hospital to speak to doctors.
    Hospital director Ramadhan Salim, spoke to journalists in the presence of numerous government officials and denied reports that pro-Gaddafi troops dragged wounded rebels out of the hospital after they took control of Zawiyah.
    "No, no, no, there is no one from the military. There was no one from the armed forces who came and took away anyone wounded from that period in the hospital," he said before leaving the news conference abruptly.
    Government officials accompanying journalists then moved the group to a pro-Gaddafi protest staged by nurses working at the hospital.
    Fighting in Libya has subsided in the past week with diplomatic efforts intensifying to reach an end to the stand-off in the country since the outbreak of the revolt in February.
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