Cops Behaving Badly Panorama


Cops Behaving Badly

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After 42 years of tyrannical rule, Colonel Gaddafi is dead. World

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leaders marked the mood. To date is a day to remember of Colonel

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Gaddafi's victims. But one of his most ruthless henchman is still on

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the run. We tracked him down to his five star hideaway in the sun.

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Moussa Koussa helped prop up the Gaddafi regime for four decades but

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he was also Britain's secret friend. Tonight, how we colluded with him.

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Whilst he was organising torture, and even inflicting abuse himself.

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TRANSLATION: While I was being questioned, Moussa Koussa was

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shocking me in the neck with the electric rod. I am for the first

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time, the secret torture tapes, incontrovertible proof of Gaddafi's

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Five-star luxury at a hotel in Qatar. Among the international

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businessmen and jet-setting playboy it is this man, Moussa Koussa. He

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was one of Colonel Gaddafi's inner circle, a ruthless spy chief

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trusted with the security of the country and stamping out dissent.

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He is now on the run, but what is intriguing is that when he fled

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Libya at the start of the uprising, he chose to defect to Britain.

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Couser is still being questioned at a secret location tonight, and is

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said to be in a fragile state of mind. His resignation shows

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Gaddafi's regime is fragmented, under pressure, and crumbling from

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within. Moussa Koussa was at the heart of Gaddafi's regime. It has

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long been said he was involved with the Lockerbie bombing. He should

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also know who was responsible for the shooting of policewoman Yvonne

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Fletcher outside the Libyan embassy in 1984. So his defection here in

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March was an opportunity to get to the truth. Moussa Koussa is

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responsible for the deaths of 270 innocent civilians, as well as

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thousands of his own people as part of the Gaddafi regime. He has to be

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held accountable for my brother's death and the death of thousands of

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others. Now, with Gaddafi dead, Moussa Koussa is the guardian of

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many of Libya's secret. So why, with little explanation, did

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Britain let him go? Now free, Libya is still surrendering its secrets.

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For four decades, it was closed to the world. In recent years, we saw

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only a reformed clown, a fading tyrant with pantomime policies

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sitting on and -- a lake of oil, but this was a nation terrorised by

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secret police when neighbours informed on each other. Now, those

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he wants targeted are the ones in charge. In Tripoli four weeks ago,

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I was invited out with a team whose job it was to capture remnants from

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the former regime. They were hunting 25 of Gaddafi's armed

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supporters, hiding out in a These are the very people who were

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being rounded up and captured by Gaddafi regime loyalist until weeks

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ago, and now they are the ones doing the hunting. An informant had

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already told them their quarry would fight to the death. Then,

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incoming fire. These buildings are dangerous because they are the

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hiding place for torturers and guards, people who once worked in

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Libya's notorious political prison just around the corner. It is in

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the south of Tripoli, and cities where Gaddafi used to dump his

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political opponents, real and imagined. Nearly everybody you

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speak to in Libya has some dark story about what happened to a

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friend or relative behind these walls. This is Abu Salim prison and

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his symbol of the unbridled When Tripoli fell, the inmates of

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Abu Salim prison began freeing themselves. They hacked open doors

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with anything they could find. You can see the desperate faces of

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people who had been locked away here for up to 30 years. One of

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them was this man, Sami Al Saadi. Get your bearings. This was it?

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was brought here for being the deputy leader of the fighting group

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intent on assassinating Gaddafi. He was hauled in front of a kangaroo

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This is the uniform you walk? How do You Know they were happy - were

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they smiling? Whilst on death row, Sami was interrogated and tortured,

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but remarkably it was the UK which helped to send him here. Into the

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hands of Moussa Koussa, who then ran Libya's intelligence service.

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Moussa Koussa once lived in London. In 1980, he was the Libyan

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ambassador. But he was expelled for backing a plan to murder two of

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Gaddafi's opponents living in the UK. His official role for more than

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a decade was Libya's chief of spies. After Tripoli fell, his old offices

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were abandoned, but some documents survived the torching. They expose

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Libya's secret relationship with the UK. In a series of letters

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between Moussa Koussa and MI6. These documents are extraordinary.

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They show the real detail of the secret relationship between Britain

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and America, and Gaddafi's police state. What is amazing is the tone

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of them, the friendliness. They are cosy and smock at some stages, and

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I guess the people who wrote them thought they would never see the

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light of day. They show one senior MI6 officer looking forward to

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having lunch with Moussa Koussa over Christmas, and signing the

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letter off with "your friend". They also show British spies were

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engaged in something sinister, something illegal. The letters show

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that our secret services colluded with Moussa Koussa to kidnap Sami

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Al Saadi and others. They were Gaddafi his political opponents

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living abroad, and at the height of the war on terror, Britain

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considered them terrorists. In fact, back in the 90s, Sami had lived in

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London and been given political But after he left, MI6 became

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suspicious about his Islamist connections. They helped arrange

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for him to be snatched from an airport in the Far East and return

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to Libya and Moussa Koussa. Sami and his wife were bundled onto a

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plane with their four young In a very same week, we handed Sami

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over in 2004, Tony Blair arrived to meet Gaddafi in the desert. He was

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our new ally in the war against terror. In the background, our

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friend Moussa Koussa. As Tony Blair enjoyed the hospitality, Moussa

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Koussa found time to slip away with a -- for a chat with the newly

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Other documents show just how close the relationship was becoming. In

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one, a senior MI6 officer said the rendition of a Gaddafi opponent was

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the least we can do for you, and described the business simply as

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cargo. But how was that cargo which we had helped deliver treated once

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it arrived in Abu Salim prison? Libya was giving reassurances that

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after rendition, none of these prisoners would face any harm. But

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what were those reassurances really worth? We were dealing with a

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secretive police state notorious for torturing and murdering its

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political opponents, and yet we were sending people back here on

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trust. Earlier this month, I was out with this team again in Tripoli.

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They thought they had found another part of Libya's former spy network,

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a local security office. They are not even looking for people to a

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rest, they are trying to find stashes of secret documents that

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are still emerging around Tripoli. Inside, mobile prisons used to

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house captured opponents. Shelves of intelligence used to incriminate

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them. But, elsewhere, they found something more chilling. Among the

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team today, a man who was himself an inmate at Abu Salim prison. He

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was tortured with electric shocks. Some of the equipment they have

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ceased is sickeningly familiar to him. TRANSLATION: This is an

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electric rod which they started torturing me with from the first

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day. They pressed it on my chest and used the electric roared on my

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chest. I kept saying I don't know anything. Panorama has now

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discovered evidence which supports his claims. The regime that we were

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doing secret deals with was filming It's torture. The evidence comes

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from a burnt-out ruins of Abu Salim prison itself. Amongst the debris,

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some crucial evidence survived. We have acquired hours of footage

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which shows the truth about how this regime treated some of its

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political opponents. It is chilling stuff, much of it far too gruesome

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to broadcast, but we can show you some. This was filmed in May this

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year. A prisoner blindfolded and Them than in the suit is from

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something called the Interrogation Committee -- the man. In the 1980s,

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Moussa Koussa was said to be its director. This footage was a small

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fraction of what we found. There are more whippings, electric shocks,

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beatings. All of which reinforce the claims of others. Like my --

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like Nouri. He used to work for Moussa Koussa in the Security

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Service that he was suspected of being a double agent and working

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for foreign spy networks. TRANSLATION: there were nine or 10

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beatings, my body died and I couldn't feel anything anymore. But

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then they grabbed a metal instrument, which is a type of

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stapler used by traders to staple large cardboard boxes, and they

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began to, I apologise to the review is about this, they put my

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testicles inside the stapler and then they pressed -- I apologise to

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the viewers. Even before the torture started, Nouri had been

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paraded in front of his old boss, Moussa Koussa, the Jaouad Gharib

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would invite to Christmas lunch. -- the man that MI6 would invite to

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Christmas lunch. He was sitting down and he was very relaxed. I was

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in and really sad state. He was leading the session and everyone

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was sitting in their own chef. -- share. But he didn't know you were

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being badly treated? TRANSLATION: He knew I had been

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tortured and that my honour had been violated. He knew that well.

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Tonight we can show that Britain's friend, Moussa Koussa, was attached

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to the bloodiest massacre of Gaddafi's regime. When we searched

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former intelligence offices bombed out by NATO, we managed to salvage

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some of the regime's surveillance They show men gathering outside a

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mosque. Gaddafi didn't just round up political opponents but

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religious ones, too. This was taken during one of his random clampdowns

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on Muslims. They picked up those who appear the most devout and

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jailed them. Some were never seen This man was one of those arrested.

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Today, picking up his young son from school, few know what he went

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through as an inmate at Abu Salim At the time, Abdul Atti was a 24-

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year-old a moderate Muslim. He was taken to Abu Salim with no idea

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when he would be released. Conditions were even worse in 1996.

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Malnutrition, no medicine, no electricity, no clean water. One

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day, a group of young inmates rebelled.

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TRANSLATION: The prison guard opened the door, they took the keys

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from him and beat him up and they tried to escape. The young man came

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out, then they came out and set off. They were aiming to escape but the

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door was locked. They couldn't get out. People that his machine gun. -

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- he pulled out his machine gun. Hundreds of prisoners were herded

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into the courtyards. The guards moved to the drift of walkways,

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machine guns trained on the inmates below. Shortly after 11 o'clock,

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they were awarded to fire. -- ordered to fire.

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TRANSLATION: We heard screams and beatings and from 11 o'clock to

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1:30pm, we heard continuous beatings. We did not know what

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happened exactly and how many were killed. We didn't guess that they

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killed just about everyone. More than 1200 inmates were slaughtered

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that day. It took nearly three hours. Abdul Atti only survived

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because he was hidden by a sympathetic guard. Now, Panorama

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can reveal that one of the regime's inner circle present as the

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massacre unfolded was Moussa Koussa or, at the time, chief of spies.

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This man, Muftah, saw him. He spent nearly two decades in jail. Eight

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years of it in isolation. He still had just a hole in the

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ceiling for light. On the day of the massacre, Muftah was

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negotiating face-to-face with Moussa Koussa on behalf of the

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prisoners. TRANSLATION: Moussa Koussa was

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careful to make sure he was present from the beginning and he made

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threats and said to me personally, you don't deserve to live. He often

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made threats. Moussa Koussa was there and he was among those who

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promise the prisoners that if they went back to their cells, nothing

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would happen to them. But they were betrayed. They killed 1200

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prisoners and Moussa Koussa was amongst those who carried

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responsibility for this massacre. When Moussa Koussa came to Abu

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Salim Prison, people say he used these rooms as his offices. Often,

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he would leave the interrogation to his juniors and he would sit here

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and wait for the victim to be delivered with confession into his

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presence. On other occasions, he would be the one delivering the

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blows. TRANSLATION: First be stripped me

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and while I was being questioned, Moussa Koussa was shocking me on

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the neck with the electric rod and while I was talking he taught me,

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shut up, and he struck me with the electric rod on my tooth and broke

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it. The man the UK made deals with over rendition and to give

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assurances there would be no torture had actually tortured

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people himself. Weeks into the Libyan uprising, Moussa Koussa

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began to make his move. He arrived at the Rixos Hotel in Tripoli to

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renounce a bogus ceasefire on It was a rare public appearance

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from such a secretive figure, by now Gaddafi's foreign minister. At

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the time, his colleagues were shouting for the blood of rebels

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but those present said Moussa Koussa or looked uncomfortable,

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shaky even. He was clearly struggling to toe the party line.

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Now we know why. These were his last days in Libya. Soon after, he

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slipped away. He crossed the border into Tunisia and then onto a

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country he trusted, with whom he had done grubby business before:

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The UK. He arrived by private jet at Farnborough air base and was

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then whisked off to a safe house. He was protected by special bronze

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offices and agreed to be interviewed briefly by Lockerbie

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investigators -- Special Branch officers. As a reward for his

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defection, his assets in the West were unfrozen. Now he could tap

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into his significant wealth. Good afternoon. The government came

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under pressure over questions about white Moussa Koussa haven't been

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arrested. They promised there had been no secret deal. Let me be

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clear, Moussa Koussa is not being granted immunity. There is no deal

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of that kind. There is no immunity from prosecution, there will be no

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immunity. He hasn't asked for that. BBC News arranged and night-time

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meeting with Moussa Koussa through British officials. They weren't

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allowed questions, there would just be a statement.

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TRANSLATION: I personally have relations and good relations with

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so many Britons. We worked together against terrorism. Then, Moussa

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Koussa said he was off, just for a few days, for a meeting about the

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future of Libya, to be held in the Gulf state of Qatar. The British

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Government allowed him to leave. He never came back. When we asked the

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Foreign Office why they allowed Moussa Koussa to go on his

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apparently endless trip to Qatar, they said, Moussa Koussa is a

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private individual who is free to travel to and from the UK. It is

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not our place to provide a running commentary on his movements and

:24:26.:24:31.

current activities. But when we asked for reassurance he was going

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to come back, maybe sent somebody with him, same response. "it is not

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our placed to provide a running commentary". What about torture?

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They said, we never condoned torture. As for the specific

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allegations, there is something unique to take up with the Libyan

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authorities. -- those are things you need to take up. It was up to

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us to find him. We suspected he was still in Qatar, the tiny Arab

:25:02.:25:06.

emirate in the Persian Gulf. Perhaps the UK let him go because

:25:06.:25:09.

he knew secrets which the British Government would prefer never to

:25:09.:25:16.

have surfaced. A man with his wealth would choose only the most

:25:16.:25:20.

exclusive and discreet of places. We found him in a five-star hotel

:25:20.:25:29.

in Doha. And here he is. In the corner of the restaurant. Scouring

:25:29.:25:35.

the room for anyone suspicious. On the right of the screen, it is his

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bodyguard. He knows Moussa Koussa could be assassinated at any moment.

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Hello, Mr Koussa. BBC Television. How many people are you responsible

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for torturing, Mr Koussa? How many people are you responsible for

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torturing? These are all questions the International Criminal Courts...

:25:59.:26:06.

These are... Excuse me. I want to know his role in the massacre of

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more than 1,000 people in 1996, that is all I want to know. Mr

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Koussa. I am interested in your role of the massacre of 1,000

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people in 1996. Were you involved? Go! Qatar the government security

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intervened and confiscated our footage but what they didn't

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realise was that we have secretly filmed with another two cameras.

:26:34.:26:38.

With all the rest of Gaddafi's family and inner circle either dead

:26:38.:26:43.

or on the run, there are bound to be more questions about why such an

:26:43.:26:47.

important figure was allowed to leave the UK.

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TRANSLATION: Moussa Koussa, to be honest, Western governments should

:26:52.:26:56.

know the truth about him. He is a murderer and the criminal and his

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only concern was that his corrupt regime, which ruled Libya with iron

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and fire, should remain in power. This is why it is imperative that

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the West must hand over this criminal to justice and he must

:27:08.:27:15.

receive his punishment. Back in Libya, on rough desert behind Abu

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Salim Prison, Abdul Atti is searching for the body of his

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brother. He was killed in the prison massacre.

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TRANSLATION: My brother was a really beloved man in every sense

:27:29.:27:35.

of that word. He knew God's book. He was a much better man than I am

:27:35.:27:45.
:27:45.:27:49.

Sami is here, too. The Gaddafi opponent jailed after a deal

:27:49.:27:54.

between Britain and Moussa Koussa. He had two brothers killed in the

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same event. Now families are digging for the bodies of more than

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1,000 missing inmates. The earth is starting to surrender its secrets

:28:08.:28:12.

but the truth about Gaddafi's murderous regime lies with those

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still living, the people who committed these crimes against

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humanity and to commit in the end, we have to account for what they

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did. -- and who, in the end. On Thursday, a Panorama special,

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