Libyan officers ‘plotted’ to defect to Malta

A number of Libyan naval officers had ‘plotted’ to defect to Malta, and had attempted to lobby NATO and the United States to grant them a safe passage corridor with their vessels to the island.

The Libyan officers lobbied through Nick Kristof, an influential New York Times blogger who admitted, on a blog post written yesterday, that he had “urged the Obama administration to create a safety corridor to protect Libyan ships seeking to defect.”

Kristof wrote that providing a safe passage corridor for defecting Libyan warships was a “no-brainer” for the US.

According to Kristof, who wrote another blog post back in February, some of the senior officers were shocked at the idea of attacking civilians but feared summary execution if they disobeyed orders.

But a senior Maltese government spokesman denied any knowledge of the lobby, or any knowledge of the intent of Libyan officers wanting to defect with their ships to Malta.

The idea to defect to Malta was fanned after news spread worldwide, and in Libya about two air force colonels who flew their Mirages to Malta after refusing orders to bomb Benghazi.

Among the senior naval officers who plotted his defection and kept secret contact with Kristof was 47-year-old Captain Salem al-Madhoun.

“When the Libyan revolution began in February, his ship was ordered to attack Benghazi, but he, instead, plotted to defect and set sail his ship to Malta. Through an intermediary at that time, he had asked me whether he could get American protection while the ship was at sea,” Kristof said, adding that the Captain later heard that he was about to be arrested, and he changed plans.

Madhoun had recorded a video on board his ship, announcing his defection and calling on other military officers to join his mutiny, but the video was not posted on YouTube until yesterday, when Kristof put together a documentary of his meeting with the Libyan officer in Tajoura.

The video was not posted because Madhoun’s wife was worried that a defection would have meant immediate repercussions on her and their children by the regime.

But the video was shot on 22 February, the same day Italian news agency ANSA had reported the ‘sighting’ of a “defecting Libyan asset” which was being monitored by the Italian navy command ship ‘Garibaldi’.

The Armed Forces of Malta had denied having any knowledge about a defecting ship.

After the failed defection, Madhoun went into hiding, but worked with a clandestine resistance force of some 1,200 underground rebels in the Tripoli area, who smuggled weapons by boat and bombed security offices.

He sent targeting data to the French government contacts so NATO could bomb military sites.

Last May, Madhoun was picked up in a routine police sweep, but he lied about his identity and claimed to be a simple vegetable seller. He was released after four hours, only to be re-arrested on 10 August after the police discovered his hide-out.

“When they arrested me, I knew I was going to be killed,” Madhoun said, adding that he was subjected to horrific electric shocks during interrogations which were overseen by Seif al-Islam Gaddafi.

“What helped me endure torture was reciting the Koran,” he said, adding that he never gave up any names.

After less than two weeks held inside the infamous Abu-Salim prison, he was freed by rebels who stormed Tripoli.

Madhoun has now been named military commander of the Tajoura district in Tripoli.

Watch Cpt. Madhoun’s decaration.