“Gaddafi's Security Services Planned to Assassinate Sheikh Zayed"; “The Colonel Harassed Sarkozy's Sister and Raped Women Visitors" Al-Mismari to Al-Hayat: I obtained a visa for al-Sadr to Italy at the request of Abdullah al-Senussi For the first time since the disappearance of Imam Musa al-Sadr, the head of the Supreme Islamic Shi'ite Council, and his two companions during a visit to Libya in late August 1978, a lead in the case has emerged, linking Abdullah al-Senussi, husband of Muammar Gaddafi's wife's sister and head of his military intelligence, to this crime - or at least to the attempt to cover it up. This is what Nuri Mismari, Gaddafi's Chief of Protocol, revealed to Al-Hayat in an interview that will be published in several parts, starting today (See page 3). Mismari said that Senussi contacted him at that time, to ask him whether the Italian authorities stamped the passports of those entering its territory. He then contacted him again to ask him to organize visas to Italy for three guests. When Mismari opened one of the three passports, he saw that it belonged to Imam al-Sadr. Mismari also said that Senussi seemed importunate, and that he ultimately sent him the passports with the visas he had obtained from the Italian Ambassador in Tripoli. Mismari confirmed that Sadr never left to Rome, and that a Libyan colonel wore the Imam's robes and travelled using the latter's passport, deliberately leaving it along with a prayer mat in a hotel in Rome. Mismari named this colonel, in addition to two officers believed to have been involved in the liquidation of the Imam and his two companions. Mismari's account takes on a special significance because Mauritania has since promised to extradite Senussi to Libya, despite the fact that the International Criminal Court wants him to be handed over to it to stand trial. It is no exaggeration to say that Mismari is a gold mine of secrets. For one thing, he was ever present in and around Gaddafi's tent, in Bab al-Azizia and in the Colonel's plane, as well as his travels and the summits he took part in. Mismari also revealed that in 1990, prior to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, a Libyan intelligence officer told him of a plan by a Libyan security agency to assassinate Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, with possible involvement by the Iraqi intelligence services. Mismari said that he went to Geneva and from there to Abu Dhabi, and relayed the assassination plot to Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed. Sheikh Hamdan then sent an envoy to Geneva to meet with the officer in question, to obtain additional information. The former Chief of Protocol spoke about how Gaddafi used to enjoy humiliating heads of states, showing up deliberately late to his appointments, and giving fake excuses. According to Mismari too, Gaddafi once deliberately put his shoes to face Tony Blair, the former British Prime Minister, in front of the cameras. He recounted how Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, became terrified once when he was taken to the desert to meet Gaddafi, who ordered that all lights in the camp be turned off, except in his tent. Mismari said that Gaddafi was sadistic and perverse, citing two incidents of rape, one involving a Nigerian visitor, and another involving the Iranian wife of a Swiss businessman. The former protocol chief said that he saw both women in a ‘deplorable condition', adding that these incidents were often handled by offering compensations. He also mentioned that Gaddafi once tried to sexually harass the sister of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and upset her greatly in the process. People close to the Colonel then tried to appeaser her, offering her a diamond necklace, which she rejected. Mismari said that Mabruka Sherif, the closest woman to Gaddafi and the most powerful one under his tenure was the one who told him about this, pointing out that Mabruka enjoyed unusual influence in the Elysée. Other information Mismari revealed to Al-Hayat includes an instance where the President of Gabon Omar Bongo played a tape to a Libyan visitor of Gaddafi harassing his wife over the phone, and another incident where a Libyan officer was assassinated during a hunting trip made by Gaddafi in Romania. According to Mismari, that officer was one of three who were killed after they came to suspect the existence of documents proving that Gaddafi's mother was Jewish. He said that Gaddafi, during that same trip, killed a deer and bathed his hands in its blood, while expounding on the benefits of warm blood.
