“After being beaten continuously, I lost sense of everything, except some electric shocks hitting different parts of my body. I regained consciousness after a while to find myself lying over some still bodies.” That’s but a hint of what the young engineering student went through. He was arrested by the end of February 17 on the background of taking part in a sit-in with his colleagues in front of the Benghazi court.

Ali recounts how the internal security fired live ammunition at them, murdering some of his friends before his eyes, and how he joined another group of rebels to arrange another sit-in in front of the Benghazi Court building. Ali traveled from Tripoli, where he studies and works, to take part in the demonstration that was scheduled on February 17 originally for the Benghazi martyrs. The march shortly followed the events of February 15, the day the first sparks ignited the revolution.

After their sit-in that lasted till the end of the day in front of the Benghazi Court building, the numbers of the participants and rebels waned gradually. Some returned to their homes while others, growing tired, gave in to sleep. As per Ali, the sit-in group was petrified to see a huge number cordoning and arresting them after severe beating and use of fire engines in the biting cold of midnight. Along with some of the members of the sit-in, Ali was transferred to the Benghazi internal security headquarters where he was beaten brutally and continuously over various parts of his body, then electrically shocked repetitively and threatened to have his genitals cut off “so that you won’t beget to filthy offspring to oust the Colonel.” Ali lost consciousness several times. He would wake up to the screams of those being tortured or to more electric shocks. “The screams of the tortured resounded everywhere. There was an old man with a white beard. The internal security officers were pulling out his beard, with blood splashing over his face. When I regained consciousness several hours later, I found the old man dead as well as many of my colleagues.”

The torturing went on in the form of beating and electric shocks from the moment they were captured at 2:30 a.m. to next day noon. Ali recovered consciousness while being transferred on board of a security vehicle. “I was lying over a pile of bodies. I couldn’t tell whether they were alive or dead.” Ali fainted once more to wake up in a police station in the suburbs of the city of Benghazi after some water was spilled on him. Not having eaten or drank anything for over half a day, he tried to drink that water only to discover it is urine.

Ali fainted again following another round of torture. This time he woke up a day and half later in Al-Jalaa Hospital in Benghazi. The doctors and nurses told him he was found in one of the streets of Benghazi, laid in the middle of the street at dawn. Ali’s presence in the hospital was not a relief. There, too, he was subjected to more beating and torture as the security officers attacked him, putting him to more electric torture and beating in his bed. He had to be carried to another hospital, where he received a call from someone pretending to asking about him and where he is. As Ali gave the details of his room and floor numbers, an officer arrived to Ali’s room and it was time for one more bout of torture.

Physically disabled now, seated in a wheelchair having lost sensation in his feet as a result of torture, Ali has not lost spirit. He is full of hope and life. “I saw one of the injured from the battalion who lost both his feet after being shot with 14.5 bullets. I have done nothing compared to those who confronted bullets with their bare chests.” An exhausted and crippled Ali, unable to take part in the demonstrations, urges the Libyans who prevent their families from contributing to freeing Libya from the hands of the “oppressive tyrant” to “set out your sons to free Libya. Your son should be at the front; your daughter could offer a hand in curing others.” Ali wishes he were in full health to team up with the rebels in Ras Lanuf or Bin Jawad. He soothes himself saying that he will recover and will join the lines freeing Libya, has it not been freed yet.

Ali perceives the division among Arabs to be a product of regimes, whereas the peoples are one hand without these regimes Ali describes as oppressive, tyrannical and unjust. He hopes Arabs will rub shoulders and grow into a source of pride for their offspring.

And a message from Ali to Gaddafi: To the oppressive tyrant, we will get you from behind the walls of your house. I hope you would receive any needed medical care and stay in good health until we put you to trial before the people and the victims as per the law and legislation.

Ali Ayad is heading to Egypt in a few days for treatment, after two weeks spent in the hospitals of Benghazi. Ali may recover from his physical wounds, but the psychological scars of torture will always remain. Though these scars are partially healing with the heralds of a victorious revolution, the ecstasy of a victory to which Ali has contributed did not make him forget his colleagues and friends who were shot dead by the beginning of February 17, and whose corpses the Gaddafi security forces kidnapped and hid. He also did not forget his colleagues whom he was the last to see, the 24 who were arrested with him by the end of that same day so as to disperse the sit-in in front of the court building. The 24 were murdered during and after torture. These are the ones who fueled the revolution and gave rise to it; they are the ones who are freeing Libya now.

by . Dr. Hamza mousa
Translated by Radwa ElShami
Thanks for Ghada Kandil

Arabic version : published at : Dostor newspaper in Egypt