Turkish cook recounts torture, stabbing at Gaddafi son's home
07 September 2011, Wednesday / TODAYSZAMAN.COM,
A Turkish man who worked as a cook in the home of Hannibal Gaddafi, the son of ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, has said he was subjected to torture, in particular at the hands of Aline Skaf, Hannibal Gaddafi's wife, who he says stabbed him.
Adnan Tam (54), who is now waiting at the Turkish Embassy in Tripoli to return home after fleeing his employer's house, told the Anatolia news agency that he left for Libya from the Samandağı district of Hatay nearly one year ago. He said although he was told he would work in the home of a businessman he realized that he would be working for Gaddafi when he arrived in Tripoli. Tam said the treatment he received changed in February after Turkey explicitly sided with the Libyan rebels who rose up against the Gaddafi regime.
“Many people from Sudan, Mali, Syria, Ethiopia, Egypt and Algeria were working in the home of Hannibal Gaddafi. The situation was also good for me in the beginning. The maltreatment and torture began after Turkey sent a ship for the wounded rebels in Misrata. They hated me. They humiliated me by calling me 'the traitor Turk.' Not a day passed without torture, humiliation and insults. I was beaten by Hannibal and his men many times. His wife Aline was neurotic. She stabbed me in my arm and back. She was the one who most frequently tortured me,” he said.
Tam said it was very difficult to escape from the home as Gaddafi's men were everywhere. “Even if I had managed to escape, they would have immediately found me since Tripoli was still under the control of the Gaddafi regime then,” Tam said.
The Turkish citizen also said he witnessed Skaf pour boiling hot water over the head of Shweyga Mullah, the nanny to Gaddafi's children, after she refused to beat her daughter. “Other staff was also exposed to maltreatment. We were in the same home as Shweyga Mullah. I saw Aline pour boiling water over her head. They locked her up in the washroom. They killed other foreign staff to prevent them from speaking up,” Tam added.
Mullah (30) was recently found alone in a room at an abandoned seaside resort in western Tripoli that belonged to the Libyan dictator's son. The Ethiopian immigrant said she came to Libya one year ago to work as a nanny to Gaddafi's young daughter and son. Her head and body were covered in large weeping scabs, evidence of the cruel punishment allegedly inflicted by Skaf.
Asked how he escaped from the house, Tam said Gaddafi and his wife left on Aug. 21 after rebels entered Tripoli. “Then I escaped from the window of the washroom. I took refuge in a mosque as our embassy was closed then. The imam of the mosque hid me for a week. He was very kind to me. He gave me food and water. Then, I stayed at a Turkish restaurant. I saw on TV that our embassy was going to be re-opened. I took refuge at the embassy when it was re-opened. If I had not escaped, they would also have killed me to prevent me from speaking up,” he said.
Tam said Turkey's newly appointed Ambassador Ali Kemal Aydın is now personally working to enable his return to Turkey. He says he is trying to prepare the documents necessary for his return as the Gaddafi family seized his passport and he has also requested financial assistance from the Turkish government.
“I have no money since I did not receive my salary for months. The expenses for my return will be met by our embassy. I am sorry that I am returning to my family in this situation. I am mentally beat. I cannot sleep. I want my country to pursue my rights. I also requested help from our president and prime minister for my treatment,” he says. Tam added that he expects assistance from the Turkish government in his legal case against the Gaddafi family.
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