A gruesome new video which appears to show Muammar Gaddafi's dead body being abused by rebels has surfaced online.In the shocking clip, which was posted to YouTube on Monday, high-spirited demonstrators apparently use the Libyan dictator's corpse as a ventriloquist's doll.
The footage came to light after a Syrian activist linked to it on Twitter, aiming a threat at Syria's leader Bashar Al Assad.
The minute-long video, whose authenticity cannot be independently verified, seems to have been filmed on October 20 last year, the day Gaddafi was captured and killed by rebel troops.
It shows a confused scene of celebration as young men shout and cheer next to a van containing an apparently dead body which resembles the dictator.
How could he be dead yet? He's still nodding his head!
The corpse is topless and covered in blood, and is apparently limp.
One rebel grabs its head and manipulates it while talking in Arabic, apparently mocking the dead leader.
Several of those on the scene are seen filming the proceedings with their cell phones.
Gaddafi's body is then taken out of a van and placed on some sort of stretcher.
After the video was posted online, Syrian anti-government prosestor Sami Al Hamwi wrote about it on Twitter, adding: 'Someone needs to send this to Assad.'
Hmm, Sami must read RB.
The clip, which was subsequently featured on the Huffington Post, is the clearest look so far at the grisly chaos surrounding Gaddafi's death.
Its release comes less than two weeks after Libya's first democratic elections, which appear to have handed a victory to secular liberal forces.
Muammar Gaddafi ruled the Libyan Arab Republic after wresting control from King Idris in a bloodless coup in 1969.
He stepped down from direct leadership in 1977 and became 'Brother Leader' in a largely symbolic role until his death in 2011.
Protests against Gaddafi began in February 2011, following uprisings in neighbouring Egypt and Tunisia.
Despite attempts by Gaddafi loyalist forces to put down the protests, they escalated into a civil war that eventually led to Nato-led intervention.
U.S. and Nato warplanes enforced a no-fly zone over the country and began bombing missions against Gaddafi forces to protect unarmed civilians.
Rebel forces set up government, called the National Transitional Council (NTC), and the assets of Gaddafi and his family were frozen as Interpol and the International Criminal Court issued warrants for his arrest.
The Libyan civil war effectively played out in the city of Sirte, where NTC forces surrounded the city and closed in on the last major pocket of Gaddafi resistance.
Gaddafi was captured alive in Sirte after an attempt to flee the city was thwarted by a Nato bombing mission.
He was to be transported to Tripoli but was instead executed by National Liberation Army troops.
"Sorry, in all the confusion we must not have got the memo."
This video is getting "disliked" a lot, so it may not stay long, but here it is: