BENGAZI, Libya: On a 20-hour journey from Benghazi to Misurata on board a Greek ship, Youm7 reporters diligently listened to and reported the stories of young Libyan revolutionaries headed to Tripoli to join rebel forces on the front. Revolutionaries on board told stories of miserable suffering under the Gadhafi regime while chanting, “Allah is the Greatest” and praying for God to have patience with their struggle. Shiekh Abdel Qader Mohammad, a 25-year-old spiritual leader, led the revolutionaries in prayer saying, “Oh Allah, Accept Our Martyrs and Heal Our Wounds.” “I am proud to be a Salafi,” said Mohammad, adding that he changed from medicine to Islamic studies but was prevented from continuing due to ongoing round-ups and detentions executed by the Gadhafi regime. “I refused to comply with orders to shave my beard and wear long clothes,” he said. “Gadhafi controlled our fasting and praying, he closed the Islamic University and he pursued the conservative youth, too.” “One of our martyr's mothers asked for us to bring a soldier loyal to Gadhafi to take revenge for her son's death,” Mohammad continued. “She did not want to take revenge for Allah's sake; instead she demanded that the revolutionaries hold the soldier until fighting ended and then return the soldier to his home.” “Libyan tribes do not accept anyone imposing anything upon them by force,” Mohammad added, referencing reports that al-Qaeda's influence is growing in Libya. Al-Qaeda leaders like Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahry are good examples, said 17-year-old Abdullah al-Amrouni, a youth who defied his family and joined the fight with the revolutionaries. “The Libyan media warned us to not join the revolutionaries because it contradicts the calls of human rights organizations to not involve children in wars,” said al-Amrouni. “Gadhafi controls the oil and left his sons in charge of oil companies,” said Mohammad Shoaib, an Egyptian oil engineer who was allegedly fired from his job without cause. “Benghazi is floating on an oil well and if we used the oil the proper way we would be a developed country,” he added. “Gadhafi is always saying, ‘What is under the earth is mine and what is above it belongs to my sons.'” Shoaib was allegedly imprisoned for seven years under the Gadhafi regime. He was subject to beatings, torture and insulting maltreatment. He was convicted of stealing a weapon from the army after enlisting. “Gadhafi refused to let his soldier enter Libyan territory after they were severely injured during the fighting in Chad,” Shoaib continued. “Gadhafi also executed 1,200 prisoners and poured cement over them.” The revolution did not just change the regime, but also the youth of Libya as well, according to Gamal Abdel Nasser. “My life was normal and boring, but I decided to fight when Gadhafi told his soldiers, ‘Misurata is for you.'”
