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Libya Black African Migrants Forced To Eat Flag (WARNING: Disturbing Video)

First Posted: 03/ 6/2012 10:26 am Updated: 03/ 6/2012 2:59 pm

A recent video purporting to show black African migrants being force-fed Muammar Gaddafi's flag has surfaced, underscoring alleged abuses of migrant workers in Libya since the fall of the regime.

In the video, a group of men are seen sitting on the floor inside of a cage with their hands tied behind their backs.

According to RT, the voice of a man off-camera demands that the men eat the all-green Libyan flag used under Gaddafi's rule. "Eat the flag, you dog. Patience you dog, patience," he says.

After the death of Gaddafi, the former Libyan leader, rebel fighters began "an immediate hunt" for his former loyalists. African migrants in particular have been targeted on suspicion of being Gaddafi mercenaries.

"Racism and the belief that [Gaddafi] heavily recruited sub-Saharan mercenaries during the war have made dark-skinned Libyans and black Africans a recurring target of theft, and abuse by armed brigades, according to rights groups,"
AFP reports.

Thousands of African migrant workers have reportedly been detained illegally. According to the BBC, evidence suggests that some of the former rebels "engaged in a violent campaign of abuse and intimidation against the black immigrant community in Tripoli" immediately following Gaddafi's death.

Last month, Amnesty International released a statement condemning "widespread abuses" by armed Libyan militias enjoying blanket impunity.

WARNING: Footage below contains disturbing content.

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A recent video purporting to show black African migrants being force-fed Muammar Gaddafi's flag has surfaced, underscoring alleged abuses of migrant workers in Libya since the fall of the regime. I...
A recent video purporting to show black African migrants being force-fed Muammar Gaddafi's flag has surfaced, underscoring alleged abuses of migrant workers in Libya since the fall of the regime. I...
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11:24 AM on 03/01/2013
Just some things I want to point out here. First, this video is almost a year old now. Second, this is some of the first reporting on what has been going on over there that I have seen on any prominent news outlet. Third, this is not just happening to migrant workers, this is happening to anyone with black skin (as though to the west they're not all black). And finally, where is the outrage? Genghis Khan was the most brutal invader of all time and even he knew that you didn't just go in and exterminate people. You take out the leaders and you give the people a choice. What is going on in Libya right now is barbaric, plain and simple. And to answer that earlier statement about mercenaries willing to kill, what do you think they would call our soldiers were we to lose one? Use some sense please. Leaders fight, soldiers just take orders.
04:49 PM on 03/08/2012
Let me get this straight. This is being portrayed as 'inhumane' or 'against human rights' or.....whaaaaaat? Mercenaries (read 'al qaeda') hired themselves to Gaddafi, for whom they cold bloodedly brutalized and tortured Lybian civilians for money - and now there is outrage against making them eat a piece of cloth? Are you kidding me? Even if they were tortured and brutalized as they did to innocent people, it wouldn't be enough. This has nothing to do with their being black in color. It has to do with retribution for what they did.
01:05 PM on 03/10/2012
Nonsensical post.
04:32 PM on 03/12/2012
There is nothing nonsensical about my post. You clearly understand only what you are fed. Gaddafi hired African mercenaries who were happy to kill for money. Now they are being made to eat a piece of cloth. That really tugs at my heartstrings.
01:35 PM on 04/10/2012
You are miseducated and underinformed.
11:35 AM on 03/07/2012
I wonder what the celebrated freedom fighter, Monsieur Bernard Henri-Lévy, will have to say about his friends in Libya.
11:05 PM on 03/07/2012
Supporters of the "rebels" don't have much to say these days.

Im sure its all Qaddafi's fault.
09:51 AM on 03/07/2012
Funny, that this abuse is just coming to the world's attention, there have been complaints and signs for a while. Such barbaric behavior
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Red45
We can turn the tide
02:04 AM on 03/07/2012
Sick, twisted and barbaric.
cwaged1002
There is hope but not for us
12:24 PM on 03/07/2012
No unlike the behavior of the US Military in Iraq.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Nico Jordaan
Double Standards dont apply to me!
01:43 AM on 03/07/2012
I bet they just love the US, the US broke Libya and they know it..There is chaos in the streets, they are heading towards a somalia type existance. This is what the US wants for Syria? Thank G-D for Russia and China.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2109923/Libya-graves-Disturbing-attacks-Commonwealth-War-Graves-Benghazi.html
http://libyasos.blogspot.com/p/news.html
http://randomactsofchaos.tumblr.com/post/18881272445/eastern-libya-pulls-away-from-central-government
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Enroh Mot
Veritas Lux Mea
12:41 AM on 03/07/2012
The Arab Knights of the Klu Klux Klan are on the loose in Libya, thank you NATO.
cwaged1002
There is hope but not for us
12:34 PM on 03/07/2012
Thank the United States also. The USA supplied two thirds of the NATO personnel, half the planes, and most of the drones and cruise -missiles.
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
KIVPossum
Moldova Marsupial
12:30 AM on 03/07/2012
Our 'leaders' were so interested in ousting Gaddafi they didn't think ten seconds about who would replace him. Same as happened in Iran, and the same as will happen in Syria.

In some cases a dictator is better than the alternative
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sherlockhemlock
One world is enough.
01:28 AM on 03/07/2012
In some cases the alternative is merely another dictator--or a new manifestation of oppression.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
bluefalcon06
Conservative Libertarian
12:26 AM on 03/07/2012
Horrible.
11:59 PM on 03/06/2012
Why don't you post the hard stuff huffingtonpost?

Whats this stuff...
10:51 PM on 03/06/2012
Good thing Obama bombed them - they are much better off now - LOL!
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
mech126
Science, and government are "NOT" the enemy...
11:50 PM on 03/06/2012
And how many Americans did the very same thing or very close to it just after the civil war, many......
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
sadwitness
Haters have no effect on me. I'm idiot proof.
12:04 AM on 03/07/2012
and you are a sick.ignorant.savage
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HUFFPOST COMMUNITY MODERATOR
KIVPossum
Moldova Marsupial
12:31 AM on 03/07/2012
He is making a valid point
07:56 AM on 03/07/2012
Wow, that hurt...
10:17 PM on 03/06/2012
How can you intellectual plebeians possibly blame Obama for this? That's like blaming Abraham Lincoln for O.J. Simpson incident.
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11:43 PM on 03/06/2012
...they'll find a way to make that connection.
12:00 AM on 03/07/2012
Lincoln and O.J. were not even alive at the same time.

Obama's policies directly led to these animals taking power.
12:44 AM on 03/07/2012
And of course, the point is sorely missed by those to whom it was aimed.
So I am to understand that Obama should have turned a blind eye to Gaddafi, one of modernity's worst dictators and an outright violator of human rights?
It's a further insult to those poor migrant workers that people are using their suffering to slander Obama. He did the right thing in freeing Libyans from the despicable rule of Gaddafi, and he's in no way directly responsible for this equally despicable action by the ex-rebels.
I didn't see you people so riled up when Bush and his cronies ok'ed the outright violation of human rights by allowing torture.
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Demos 0
You have all the weapons you need. Now Fight!
10:08 PM on 03/06/2012
According to the Geneva Conventions (excerpts below):

Not all violations of the treaty are treated equally. The most serious crimes are termed grave breaches, and provide a legal definition of a war crime. Grave breaches of the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions include the following acts if committed against a person protected by the convention:

* Willful killing, torture or inhumane treatment, including biological experiments.
* Willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health.
* Willful enforcement of flag digestion without proper seasoning.
* Compelling someone to serve in the forces of a hostile power.
etc..

I didn't see any salt or pepper etc...sprinkled upon any of those flags, but we haven't been allowed to view the entire video footage. Also, the current administration of Libya may not be signatories of the Geneva Conventions and might not fall under the protocols.
12:04 AM on 03/07/2012
HP won't post the hard stuff.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
Jasel
Nurse
10:04 PM on 03/06/2012
They're Black, so they're assumed to be guilty of something. Sounds like America.
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outasite
ipsa scientia potestas est
11:54 PM on 03/06/2012
That's the most asinine comment I've read in a while. Next time, just keep your bitter pettiness to yourself.
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breakingpoint
War is a Racket - Smedley Butler
10:01 PM on 03/06/2012
this is what Obama and Nato released

so warmongering democrats
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
mech126
Science, and government are "NOT" the enemy...
11:52 PM on 03/06/2012
Ahh the only ones calling for war right now is republicans, or did you forget Iran....
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Crisdean Wulver
We've got our priorities screwed up.
12:25 AM on 03/07/2012
What about what Bush released in Iraq?