Libyan Who Helped Capture Gaddafi is Killed
Prayers during the funeral of Omran Ben Shabaan, in Misrata, Libya. (REUTERS/Anis Mili)
One of the men who captured Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was buried Wednesday in Libya.
Omran Ben Shabaan was caught on camera last year, grabbing the fallen dictator as he emerged from a drain hole.
Gaddafi was killed later the same day.
Shabaan also died violently, from injuries he received at the hands of Gaddafi loyalists still active in Libya.
He had been kidnapped in July and tortured, then shot and wounded in an escape attempt.
The Libyan government negotiated his release earlier this week and he was rushed to Paris, France, for medical treatment.
But he died of his injuries on Tuesday.
Shabaan’s brother runs a militia in Misrata, and has vowed to take justice into his own hands, if the government fails to do so.
Dirk Vandewalle, associate professor of government at Dartmouth College, says that could trigger a new round of instability and violence in Libya.
The incident coincides with attempts by citizens groups to disarm the militias, following the death of US ambassador, Chris Stevens, earlier this month, in an attack by a pro-al-Qaeda Salafist militia.
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