Questions Follow Gaddafi's Death

Muammar Gaddafi, the authoritarian leader that has defined the last 40 years of Libyan public life, was killed Thursday morning while attempting to flee his stronghold in Sirte. Gaddafi’s death brings to an end a repressive era in Libyan history, but one Harvard professor says that Gadaffi’s violent end may undermine the fragile seeds of democracy there.

Chibli Mallat, a visiting professor of Islamic legal studies, expressed concern for the future of Libya after Gaddafi’s death. Mallat said that the decision to kill Gaddafi was poorly informed, noting the need for closure after a 40-year dictatorship.

“I wanted him to stand trial. I’m sorry it ended in this way ... Justice would have been far better served if he had been tried rather than killed,” he said.

While some international observers hoped that Gaddafi would eventually stand trial for abuses committed under his regime, his sudden death avoids a trial that would likely have become a massive public spectacle and distracted the country from other pressing concerns.

“There would have been a great fight about who would have tried him—the courts of Libya or the International Court of Justice,” said E. Roger Owen, a professor of Middle East history, who added that such a process would have shifted attention from moving forward and establishing a democracy.

Mallat said that he much prefers the peaceful tactics employed in Egypt and Tunisia to the violence that has marked the Libyan revolution. Non-violence, Mallat said, has helped lay the groundwork for democracy in Egypt and Tunisia, so Gaddafi’s violent death may undermine stability in Libya.

“This precedent of nonviolence created better opportunities for the long-term nonviolent cause ... Unfortunately, violent death doesn’t bode very well for a new start in Libya,” he said.

“Closure would have been far better for the democratic prospects if he had not been killed,” Mallat added.

Gaddafi ruled Libya for one week short of forty-two years, but on Feb. 17, in the wave of revolutions known as the Arab Spring, protests began in Tripoli and lasted until Gaddafi’s fall in August. Gaddafi fled immediately and had not been seen until Thursday morning in Sirte.

“This draws the line under a particularly nasty era in Libya,” Owen said, calling Gaddafi’s death a “clean break with the past.”

“[Gaddafi’s death] is a great boost for the Arab Revolution,” Owen said, adding that tyrants still in power will feel more vulnerable after seeing Gaddafi’s end.

Gaddafi was travelling in a convoy with his guards when attacked by an American drone and a French aircraft. The convoy disbanded, and Gaddafi hid in a sewer with his guards but was soon captured by the rebel soldiers and killed.

Throughout the day, photographs and videos of Gaddafi’s body emerged on the internet. These graphic images displayed his bloodied body and quickly carried the news to the world that Gaddafi had been killed.

Libyans celebrated his death, taking to the streets of Tripoli, cheering and waving flags.