By Libya Herald reporters.
Tripoli, 17 July 2015:
Mustafa Al-Kharoubi, a Sebha classmate of Muammar Qaddafi, who went on to become a founding . . .[restrict]member of the Libyan Revolutionary Command Counci,l has died in Tripoli days before he was due to hear the verdict on his case in the mass trial of former regime officials held in Hadba prison.
It is understood that Kharoubi had been released on compassionate grounds some days ago and died at home in Tripoli with his family. However, there have been claims that he died in prison and was denied medical help.
Though he had been sidelined in the latter years of the regime, unlike his fellow Sebha classmate and revolutionary Abdel Salam Jalloud, Kharoubi, continued to hold some favour with Qaddafi, even though there were rumours that after the revolution broke out, the dictator placed him under house arrest.
One of his last public engagements was when he greeted Jacob Zuma in April 2011 when the South African president arrived on an African Union peace mission.
It is unclear how Kharoubi came to be arrested but he next appeared in the Hadba courtroom alongside other former regime officials, including ex-prime minister prime minister, Abdul Qader Al Baghdadi and Qaddafi’s spy chief Abdullah Al-Senussi.
It was never revealed precisely what charges had been levelled against Kharoubi and because of the opacity of the court proceedings, the evidence against him has never been made public.
Kharoubi came from the small Kharobui tribe and was born in Matred, near Surman. [/restrict]
