Dubai: A namesake of embattled Libyan leader
Moammer Gaddafi has rushed to change his name in "solidarity"
with Libyan people, an Emirati daily reported on Wednesday.
The 40-year-old Sudanese Moammer Gaddafi who lives in
Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates is trying to change his
name "in solidarity with the Libyans whose blood was shed"
during an uprising against the Libyan leader, Arabic daily
Emarat Alyoum reported.
The Sudanese man who said his father has named him after
Gaddafi, "one year following his (the Libyan leader's) revolt
against the king's rule" has begun with "the legal measures
needed to change his name," said the daily.
"I was proud of the name and I even used to copy
Gaddafi's hairstyle... but after what happened, especially
when he described his people as 'rats', and started facing
peaceful protesters with planes and tanks... this made me feel
that the name has become a curse I should get rid of," the
daily quoted the namesake as saying.
Gaddafi last week urged his supporters to rally and help
"capture the rats," as he termed anti-regime demonstrators.
Rights groups say at least 1,000 people have been killed
in Libya in a brutal crackdown by forces loyal to Gaddafi on
pro-democracy demonstrators who took to the streets nearly two
weeks ago in the wake of upheavals in neighbouring Egypt and
Tunisia.
Bureau Report
First Published: Wednesday, March 02, 2011, 21:44