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Following are excerpts from an interview with Libyan TV host Hala Al-Masrati, which aired on Al-Libiya TV on February 27, 2011:
Hala Al-Masrati: Some journalists here in Libya conspired against me. I can say this because our media enjoys transparency and freedom. Consequently, I was subjected to torture and electric shocks, my passport was ripped up, and I was accused of incitement to civil strife in Libya. At present, I am a citizen without an identity card.
All this happened merely because I was talking about the man on the street, and about the mounting pressure among the Libyan public, saying that this pressure was being exploited. As a result, I was accused of treason, and of incitement of the public.
Today, I hold no grudge against my interrogators, because they acted out of patriotism. They had reports, and they had to act on the basis of these reports. They had my articles and my writings, in which, for instance, I addressed the writers and journalists, and told them that if they wished to criticize the leader [Al-Qadhafi] or Seif Al-Islam, they should sign their names to it. They should speak out from within Libya, and criticize the Leader.
The Leader is the father of all the Libyans, even though he is above criticism. We should not regard this individual as a regular person or intellectual. The Leader is a human, cultural, and ideological enterprise, whose achievements we must bear in mind.
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We do not have transparent newspapers and we have no media outlets that accept dissenting opinions. We, the youth, have our views, and we are looking for a way to make our voice heard. We don't get this opportunity.
Consequently, [the youth] turn to the opposition. These [opposition] websites try to poison their minds, and to establish the following notion in their minds: Oh Libyan youth, you will have no future unless you change the regime.
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They told them that our father, Al-Qadhafi, and his sons would try to appease the Libyan public, but that once these tribulations were over, they would arrest you, hang you, and kill you. These are not the moral values of the leader and his children.
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Are they really the alternative to the Leader, Mu'ammar Al-Qadhafi?! This is my only question to the Libyan people. Use your own judgment.
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