Dictator ‘lied about girl’s death in airstrike’

Since the rebel takeover of Tripoli, evidence has been mounting that Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi may have lied about the death of his adopted baby daughter Hana in a 1986 US airstrike.

The strike hit Gaddafi’s home in his Tripoli compound, Bab al-Aziziya, in retaliation for the Libyan-sponsored bombing of a Berlin nightclub earlier that same year that killed two US servicemen.

At the time, Gaddafi showed journalists a picture of a dead baby and claimed it was his adopted daughter Hana – the first public mention that she even existed.

Diplomats almost immediately questioned the claim.

But Gaddafi kept the story alive through the years. Then, when investigations into the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing pointed to a Libyan hand in the attack, some suggested that Gaddafi had ordered it to avenge Hana’s death in the US airstrike.

But when Libyan rebels took over Tripoli and Bab al-Aziziya last week, they found a room in Gaddafi’s home with Hana’s birth certificate and pictures of a young woman with Hana written on the back, possible indications that she lived well beyond infancy.

A Tripoli hospital official has come forward saying Hana worked for him as a surgeon up until the rebels came to town.

Yesterday, Swiss officials confirmed that Hana’s name had briefly appeared earlier this year on a Swiss government document listing the names of senior Libyan figures targeted for sanctions.

Many Libyans believe Hana was never killed and talked about her existence openly.

Adel Shaltut, a Libyan diplomat at the UN in Geneva, said it was common knowledge that Hana Gaddafi was not killed in the airstrike. “All Libyans knew from the very beginning that it’s a lie,” he said, claiming that Hana was married and had children.

However, some in Libya believed that after Hana’s death, Gaddafi adopted another daughter and gave her the same name in a memorial tribute.

Adding to the mystery, two photographs from the 1990s show an adolescent girl identified in captions as Gaddafi’s daughter Hana.

In one of them from 1999, she is standing next to South African president Nelson Mandela, with his arm around her, during a family visit to Johannesburg.

In another photo from 1996, Gaddafi is seen wiping the face of a girl identified in the caption as his daughter Hana Gaddafi.

Hana’s current whereabouts are unknown.