BENGHAZI: Libya’s new leaders will declare liberation Sunday in the wake of Moamer Qaddafi’s death, paving the way for the formation of an interim government followed by the first free vote in 42 years.
The long-awaited declaration was being overshadowed, however, by raging controversy over the circumstances of Qaddafi’s killing after he was captured alive during the fall of his hometown Sirte, with Britain on Sunday saying the incident had "stained" the National Transitional Council.
Senior NTC officials said an autopsy has been carried out on Qaddafi’s body, which would be handed to his relatives after consulting with them on the location of his burial.
The new regime has said the liberation declaration would be made later Sunday in the eastern city of Benghazi, cradle of the revolt that broke out in February and, backed later by a NATO air war, saw Tripoli overrun in August.
By mid-afternoon, crowds of people were making their way to Kish Square in the centre of Benghazi for the formal ceremony which was expected to start at 1400 GMT.
The square was awash with the green, red and black flags of the revolution that toppled Qaddafi, while car speakers blasted the national anthem, the same used by the Libya’s former monarchy which was adopted by anti-Qaddafi forces.
The NTC had promised to proclaim the country’s liberation after Sirte, Qaddafi’s last bastion of support, fell and the ousted despot was controversially killed on Thursday.
Under the NTC’s roadmap, an interim government would be formed within one month of the declaration, followed within eight months by elections for a constitutional assembly — the first democratic vote in Libya since Qaddafi seized power in a coup 42 years ago.
Parliamentary and presidential elections would be held within a year after that.
Interim leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil said an investigation was being conducted into the circumstances of Qaddafi’s killing after several foreign governments and human rights watchdogs posed questions.
"We are dealing with the subject with transparency," Abdel Jalil told Al-Jazeera television.
Disquiet has grown internationally over how Qaddafi met his end after NTC fighters hauled him out of a culvert where he was hiding following NATO air strikes on the convoy in which he had been trying to flee his falling hometown.
Mobile phone videos show him still alive at that point.
Subsequent footage shows a now-bloodied but walking Qaddafi being hustled through a frenzied crowd, before he disappears in the crush and the crackle of gunfire can be heard.
NTC leaders are adamant he was shot in the head when he was caught "in crossfire" between his supporters and new regime fighters soon after his capture.
Interim prime minister Mahmud Jibril told the BBC’s Hardtalk program that he would rather Qaddafi had survived.
"To be honest with you at the personal level I wish he was alive. I want to know why he did this to the Libyan people," he said. "I wish I were his prosecutor in his trial."
Jibril added it would be "absolutely OK" to carry out a full investigation under international supervision into the killing, as long as Islamic burial rules were respected.
In London, Britain’s new Defense Secretary Philip Hammond said the reputation of Libya’s new leaders had been "stained" by Qaddafi’s killing.
"It’s certainly not the way we do things, it’s not the way we would have liked it to have happened," he told BBC television.
"The fledgling Libyan government will understand that its reputation in the international community is a little bit stained by what happened," he said.
Qaddafi’s body has been stored in a vegetable market freezer in the eastern city of Misrata, drawing large crowds wanting to view and take pictures of the remains of the despot who ruled Libya with an iron fist for decades.
An autopsy was carried out on Sunday morning, Misrata military council spokesman Fathi Al-Bashaagha told AFP.
The judge in charge of organizing the autopsy confirmed that Qaddafi’s body had been examined, adding he was waiting for a report on the causes of death.
"The autopsy was completed at 10:00 am (0800 GMT) but the report has not been written yet so I haven’t been informed yet of the causes of death," said Abdel Salam Baayu.
An autopsy was also carried out, on Saturday, on the body of Mutassim Qaddafi, a son of the former leader, who was likewise captured in Sirte on Thursday and displayed next to his father.
Another NTC official, Ahmed Jibril, told AFP that Qaddafi’s body would be handed to his relatives.
"The decision has been taken to hand him over to his extended family, because none of his immediate family are present at this moment," Jibril said in Tripoli.
"The NTC are in consultation with his family. It is for his family to decide where Qaddafi will be buried, in consultation with the NTC," added Jibril.
UN human rights chief Navi Pillay has called for an investigation into the killing, as has Claudio Cordone, senior director at Amnesty International, who said that if he "was killed after his capture, it would constitute a war crime and those responsible should be brought to justice."
And Qaddafi’s widow, Safia, who fled to Algeria in August, has called on the United Nations to investigate the circumstances of her husband’s death, Syria-based Arrai television said.
