Ian Bunn | Political & Popular Culture Arts

I turned and shot without looking (September 17th)

Nisreen Mansour al Forgani the 19 year old recruit in one of Libyan Leader Moammar Gaddafi’s all-female militias, has admitted to executing eleven rebel fighters one at a time at point blank range after being ordered to do so. “I killed the first one, then they would bring another one up to the room,” Forgani told the UK Daily Mail newspaper. “He would see the body on the floor and look shocked. Then I would shoot him too. I did it from about a metre away.” Forgani claims she undertook the executions under duress and managed to escape after leaping from a two storey building. She also claims to have been raped by several military officers while under Gaddafi’s command, and is now under rebel guard at a Tripoli military hospital.

Inspired by Alex Alvarez http://ow.ly/6lxvI image source Ziarul de Vrancea http://ow.ly/6lxHx

How dare you disobey your masters (September 9th)

Ali Farzat the 60 year old Syrian political cartoonist and head of the Arab Cartoonists’ Association has been pulled from his vehicle and beaten by masked Syrian security forces gunmen, leaving him on the side of a road with both hands broken. While targeting his hands, Farzat was cautioned this is “just a warning”. Farzat had been publishing anti-regime cartoons targeting government figures, including an image of a running sweaty President Bashar al-Assad clutching a briefcase, heading towards the Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi, supposedly to catch a ride with the anxiously seated dictator in a getaway car. Syrian opposition members are outraged with the brutality of the attack on Farzat, a reminder of another victim Ibrahim al-Qashoush, found dead with his vocal chords removed after he composed a popular anti-regime song.

Inspired by Helen Stoilas http://ow.ly/6fig0 image source keprtv http://ow.ly/6fif6

Oksana Balinskaya the 24 year old Ukrainian nurse responsible for the health of the 68 year old Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi has denied rumors that she or other nurses were kept as a mistress by the eccentric leader. Balinskaya claims that Gaddafi who she refers to as ‘Papa’, was a generous man, giving the nurses cash to shop with when on international trips, and providing gold watches decorated with his image to staff. Balinskaya describes Gaddafi as having specific habits including a love of Italian foods and camel meat, wearing gloves as protection, a penchant for frequent clothing changes, throwing sweets and money from his motorcade to children, but also claims she was personally closely supervised, and her apartment was subjected to listening devices.

Inspired by Ken Hanly ow.ly/4zayV image source Allvoices ow.ly/4zaFD