@sharon_lynchsharon lynch
@smithjournalist Excellent interview with #Younis family. TY for clarifying re Ashraf at the funeral and more.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/afr… #libya
The family of the Libyan rebel military leader who died under mysterious circumstances last week says the general's death may have resulted from a power struggle within the ranks.
But the facts available to the family have made them deeply mistrustful of the general's rivals within the rebel movement against Colonel Moammar Gadhafi.In their first interview with a Western journalist after his death, close relatives of General Abdel Fatah Younis said the rebel council does not appear to be getting closer to answering any of the questions that still linger over his mysterious assassination.
“It's not only Gadhafi who benefits from his death,” said Moatasem Younis, the general's son. “It's others who want to capture the revolution.”
The death of Gen. Younis has become a major crisis within the rebel leadership in Benghazi, coming at a time when the rebel council is gaining international recognition and access to millions of dollars in loans and unfrozen assets of the regime.
Three of the general's relatives spoke to The Globe and Mail at the general's sprawling compound, in the same room where they first heard of his death during live coverage of a press conference on Thursday.
No representatives from the rebel council told them beforehand about the killing, and none visited to offer condolences during the official three days of mourning.
“Anyway, we would not have accepted their condolences,” said Mohamed Hamid Younis, the general's nephew. “We want the whole truth, and retaliation. Those responsible – the schemers, the masterminds – should be punished.”
Despite their suspicions about fellow rebels, the family members said they continue to oppose Mr. Gadhafi. The general's nephew, Mohamed Hamid, was the only relative who took to the microphone when thousands of mourners thronged the main square in Benghazi on Friday, and his speech emphasized that the family still supports the top rebel leader, Mustafa Abdel Jalil.
Days after the funeral, the family members say they remain troubled by incorrect media reports that quoted one of the general's sons, Ashraf, saying at the gravesite that he “wants the green flag back,” an apparently nostalgic reference to the regime in Tripoli. They now agree that Ashraf did not speak those words, remains loyal to the rebels, and had perhaps been misunderstood amid the shouts and clatter of gunfire at the funeral.
The rebel council has announced that an investigative committee will examine the general's death. Gen. Younis’s family says they are concerned that the committee has not yet started its work, and that some appointees have already withdrawn from the investigation.
More fundamentally, they remain skeptical about whether a committee named by the rebel council can adequately tackle the questions surrounding a series of events that started last week when a rebel judiciary committee issued a summoning order to recall the general from his command post.
“We hope that justice will take its path, but we are not optimistic,” said Abdel Razag, a relative who speaks fluent English and now handles some of the media inquiries about the general's death. “It was a judicial committee that caused the problems in the first place.”
The family believes its only recourse for justice may be the International Criminal Court in the Hague.
“Now we are demanding clear answers,” Mohamed Hamid Younis said.
“Otherwise, we will appeal to the international judiciary. We will hold all NTC [National Transitional Council, the top rebel council] members responsible for the killing.”
