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U.N. Panel Says Findings On Gadhafi's Death Are Inconclusive

The late Moammar Gadhafi attends the opening session of the Africa-EU summit in November 2010.
Mahmud Turkia
/
AFP/Getty Images
The late Moammar Gadhafi attends the opening session of the Africa-EU summit in November 2010.

A United Nations expert panel found that both sides in the conflict leading up to Moammar Gadhafi's demise in Libya last year were responsible for war crimes.

The AP reports:

"The U.N.-appointed Commission of Inquiry on Libya says in its report published Friday that "international crimes, specifically crimes against humanity and war crimes, were committed by Gadhafi forces."

"The panel led by Canadian judge Philippe Kirsch says anti-Gadhafi forces also committed serious violations "including war crimes and breaches of international human rights law."

"It says the human rights abuses by former rebels are continuing."

The AFP reports that the inquiry also looked at the circumstances surrounding Gadhafi's death. If you remember, his death raised a lot of questions. Especially about whether he was executed or died in a firefight as the Libya's ex-rebels claimed.

The panel told the U.N. Council on Human Rights that it was unable to determine if Gadhafi's death was "an unlawful killing and considers that further investigation is required."

The panel reviewed video of Gadhafi's last moments, but they were unable to review the former Libyan leader's autopsy report, because Libyan authorities denied the panel access to it.

The AFP adds:

"'Both (Gadhafi and his son Mutassim) were killed in unclear circumstances after capture but it is apparent that both were initially captured alive,' the report said, recommending further investigation in both cases to determine the cause of death.

The report goes on to say that a pathologist could not determine cause of death by looking at images.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.