Ayesha Gaddafi

Ayesha Gaddafi (Arabic: عائشة القذافي‎, born 1976), also known as Aisha Gaddafi, is a former Libyan mediator and military official, former UN Goodwill Ambassador, and lawyer by profession. She is the fifth child and only biological daughter of former Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi and his second wife Safia Farkash.[1][2]

Ayesha Gaddafi
عائشة القذافي
Born1976 (age 44–45)
Tripoli, Libya
Allegiance Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
Service/branchLibyan Army
RankLieutenant colonel

Education

Gaddafi was educated at the Paris Diderot University, and she studied Law at the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne.[3][4]

Military service

She trained with the Libyan military, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Diplomacy

In 2010 after sanctions were imposed on Iraq, she arrived in Baghdad with a delegation of 69 officials. Shortly before the invasion of Iraq in 2003, she met with Saddam Hussein.[5] In 2011, she strongly denounced the policies of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. President Barack Obama, calling for a mediation of the Libyan Civil War through an international organization which would exclude them.[6]

Ayesha has served as a mediator on behalf of the government with European Union corporations.[5]

UN Goodwill Ambassador

Ayesha Gaddafi was appointed as the United Nations Development Program National Goodwill Ambassador for Libya on 24 July 2009, primarily to address the issues of HIV/AIDS, poverty and women's rights in Libya, all of which are culturally sensitive topics in the country.[7][8] In February 2011 the United Nations stripped Ayesha of her role as a goodwill ambassador.[9]

Saddam Hussein

In July 2004, she joined the legal defence team of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.[5]

Muntadhar al-Zaidi

Gaddafi is also the head of the charity Wa Attassimou, which defended Muntadhar al-Zaidi when he faced charges stemming from the shoe-hurling incident.

Libyan civil war
Main article: 2011 Libyan civil war

Travel ban

She was placed under a travel ban on 26 February 2011, under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1970.

Gaddafi sued NATO over the bombing of a building in her father's compound which she alleged killed her brother, Saif al-Arab Gaddafi, and her own infant daughter. She claimed that the attack was illegal because it targeted civilian buildings. Gaddafi's lawyers filed the petitions in Brussels and Paris in June 2011.[10] However, on 27 July 2011, it was reported that Belgian prosecutors had declined to investigate the war crimes complaint filed by Gaddafi against NATO, stating that the courts of Belgium lacked jurisdiction to deal with the matter.[11] On 3 June 2012, through her lawyer Nick Kaufman, Ayesha Gaddafi also petitioned the judges of the International Criminal Court requesting that they order the Prosecutor - Fatou Bensouda to disclose what steps she had taken to investigate the murder of her father and brother Mutassim Gaddafi. This application was opposed by the Prosecutor who stated that requiring her to disclose the requested information would intrude on prosecutorial independence and discretion and potentially impede the investigation itself.[12]

Battle of Tripoli

As the Battle for Tripoli reached a climax in mid-August, the Gaddafi family were forced to abandon their fortified compound. On 22 August, Libyan rebels captured her house in the Battle of Tripoli.[13] Among her possessions was a golden sofa shaped like a mermaid with the face of Ayesha, designed by an Egyptian artist.

Flight to Algeria

On 27 August 2011, it was reported by the Egyptian news agency Mena that Libyan rebel fighters had seen six armoured Mercedes-Benz sedans, possibly carrying top Gaddafi regime figures, cross the border at the south-western Libyan town of Ghadames towards Algeria,[14] which at the time was denied by the Algerian authorities. On 29 August, the Algerian government officially announced that Safia Farkash together with Ayesha and her brothers Muhammad and Hannibal (along with his wife Aline Skaf), had crossed into Algeria early on 29 August.[14][15] An Algerian Foreign Ministry official said all the people in the convoy were now in Algiers, and that all of them had been named in warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for possible war crimes charges. Mourad Benmehidi, the Algerian permanent representative to the United Nations, later confirmed the details of the statement. The family had arrived at a Sahara desert entry point, in a Mercedes and a bus at 8:45 a.m. local time. The exact number of people in the party was unconfirmed, but there were “many children” and they did not include Colonel Gaddafi. The group was allowed in on humanitarian grounds, because Ayesha was pregnant and near her term.[16] The Algerian government had since informed the head of the National Transitional Council. Libya's rebels said sheltering Gaddafi family members was an act of aggression, and called for their extradition.[15]

On 30 August 2011 it was announced that Ayesha had given birth to a girl in the city of Djanet. They were reportedly being confined by the Algerian government to a villa in Staoueli near Algiers, and were being cut off from outside communications.[17] In October 2012 she, along with two of her brothers and other family members left Algeria to go to Oman, where they were granted political asylum.[18]

The EU amended their sanctions list in 2014, but did not include Ayesha, and rejected her requests to be removed from the list. She then sued on the basis that after the death of her father, there was now no reason for any bans.[17]. In May of 2016, her mother and some of her family were allowed to return to Libya, still they were rejected and also went back to Oman as an asylum seeker but Ayesha Gaddafi remained in Oman.[18] In January 2017, European Union’s General Court announced that her appeal had been successful, and that all sanctions and travel bans were now lifted. The court directed that EU governments pay court costs.[17]

Personal life

Ayesha was dubbed in the Arab press as the "Claudia Schiffer of North Africa," because of her dyed hair.[1] In 2006, she married Ahmed al-Gaddafi al-Qahsi, a cousin of her father's and an army colonel. Her husband was killed in the 26 July bombing of Gaddafi’s compound.[19] They had three children prior to the fall of the regime, one of whom was killed along with one of her brothers in a NATO airstrike and another killed along with her husband in the bombing of Gaddafi's compound. Algerian authorities confirmed that she gave birth to her fourth child, a baby girl, on 30 August 2011, shortly after arriving there after fleeing Libya with other members of the Gaddafi family. Shortly after arriving in Algeria they moved to Oman.

See also
  • Timeline of the Libyan civil war

References
  1. "Aisha, Gaddafi's only daughter". The Telegraph. London. 22 March 2011. Retrieved 9 June 2011.
  2. Sullivan, Kimberly L. (2008). Muammar Al-Qaddafi's Libya. Twenty-First Century Books. p. 129. ISBN 0822586665, ISBN 978-0-8225-8666-1.
  3. "Les vacances des émirs du Golfe et leurs suites d'esclaves". nawaat.org (in French). 8 August 2008.
  4. "Aïcha Kadhafi se marie". jeuneafrique.com (in French). 23 April 2006.
  5. "Gaddafi's children as controversial as father". Al Arabiya News. 23 February 2011. Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 9 June 2011.
  6. Binlot, Ann (26 April 2011). "Aisha Qaddafi taunts Clinton and Obama". CBS News. Archived from the original on 27 April 2011. Retrieved 9 June 2011.
  7. "Dr. Aisha Gaddafi Appointed UN Goodwill Ambassadorr". The Tripoli Post. 24 July 2009. Archived from the original on 2011-03-03.
  8. "Aisha Gadhafi: 5 Facts on Moammar Gadhafi's Only Daughter". AOL News. 23 February 2011. Archived from the original on 25 February 2011.
  9. "UN drops Gaddafi's daughter as goodwill ambassador". Times of India. 24 February 2011. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
  10. "Gaddafi daughter sues over attacks". www.heraldsun.com.au. 7 June 2011.
  11. "Gaddafi daughter's war crimes lawsuit against NATO dismissed". timeslive.co.za/. Archived from the original on 2011-07-30.
  12. "Prosecution response to Aisha Gaddafi's request for information relating to the status of the Prosecutor's investigations in the Libyan Situation". www.icc-cpi.int.
  13. "Rebels Storm Aisha Gaddafi's House". YouTube.
  14. Harding, Luke; Chulov, Martin; Stephen, Chris (29 August 2011). "Gaddafi's family escape Libya net to cross into Algeria". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 29 August 2011.
  15. "Libya conflict: Gaddafi family 'flee to Algeria'". BBC News. 29 August 2011. Retrieved 29 August 2011.
  16. "Gaddafi's wife, 3 children cross into Algeria". Hindustan Times. Algiers. Indo-Asian News Service. 30 August 2011. Archived from the original on 7 September 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
  17. McElroy, Damien (5 September 2011). "Libya: Gaddafi wife and children holed up in Algerian villa". The Telegraph. Algiers. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
  18. "Muammar Gaddafi's family take refuge in Oman". The Telegraph. 25 March 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  19. "Aisha Gaddafi gives birth to baby girl hours after fleeing to Algeria". The Washington Post. 30 August 2011.
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