Doctor Beaten Libya

Doctor Beaten Libya, A Libyan-Canadian neurosurgeon released from prison in Tripoli by anti-Gaddafi rebels last month said he is lucky to be alive after being beaten and threatened with rape by their captors.

Dr. Rida Mazagri, who had worked in the Children’s Hospital of Ottawa in Ontario, returned to Libya in February, shortly after the rebellion broke out to attend to the wounded. But the pro-Gaddafi soon captured.

It would be five months before they see the light of day again.

Mazagri was imprisoned in Abu Salim – the most famous prison of all – and was still alive when the rebels released him Aug. 24.

“We knew we had something to do in the city, since in the last days of shooting has intensified in reality,” said Evan Dyer CBC West Virginia, where he now works.

“Two, three hours after we heard some people coming and knocking on doors of metal from the main doors, and breaking the locks and here we are.”

Mazagri was captured while serving as Chief Resident of rebel forces in the early days of the war, when NATO had not intervened and the rebels were retreating.

Gaddafi forces making no distinction between combatants and physicians.

Said one supporter asked his medical specialty. When he answered back surgery, the man jumped on his back.

He also was repeatedly kicked and whipped with a belt of a motorcar, and steeled himself for an arrest that could have lasted years.

“This is Gaddafi. This is Libya. This is Abu Salim. So you have to prepare themselves psychologically, this will be weeks, months or years,” he said.

Despite his ordeal, said it Mazagri positive about the future of Libya and is committed to helping in its reconstruction.

Meanwhile, the rebels arrived reinforcements were one of the last bastions Muammar Gaddafi in Libya on Monday, and deployed forces against the ousted dictator gave the people a chance to surrender and avoid a fight.

Thousands of anti-Gaddafi fighters have agreed in Bani Walid, a desert town about 140 kilometers southeast of Tripoli. Gaddafi has been running since he lost his capital last month.