TRANSLATING FOR GHEDDAFI

STARTING THE CAREER WITH GHEDDAFI 

My story   was started on the 2nd of March 2011 when I was called by a friend of mine to translate for the foreign journalists arriving in Libya to cover the Libyan crisis, 830 a. m I move towards  the Rixos hotel which is located in the south eastern part of Tripoli…

Hello …….? How can I get to the Rixos? OK just follow that smoke which is rising in the air.... ...was my  telephone call asking my friend how to get there as he started one week earlier as a translator for the French TV..But the truth is this hotel was reserved just for the VIPS and I have never been part of them in Libya.

I get to the Rixos hotel where I meet my friend and while I was having coffee with him he told me the survival rules as I was in the wrong place and I have to deal with new mentality:

1- be always green with the Libyan minders (pretend to be pro Gheddafi) and just normal with the foreign journalists…Chinese, Russians, Venezuelans and Many Arabs are excluded!!!!!

2- Give the Libyan minders the impression that you are appointed by the security corps which deals with the foreigners in Libya, be tranquil they don’t know each other’s.

3-do`nt ask about the boss here but the front man seems to be Mussa Ibrahim but in fact you will deal mainly with those who wear the waistcoat with the word PRESS on it (secret agents).

4-never talk about money with them (the Libyan minders) but pretend to be a volunteer and make your deal under the table with the foreign journalist.

After I have memorized the rules I was presented to Mussa Ibrahim who takes me strait a way to the Italian journalists.

 After a little talk with the Italians the organizers call the whole journalists to take the minibus to go somewhere(Destination is never mentioned ) but that somewhere will host the speech of  Gheddafi as the date is 2^nd  of  March  which is the anniversary of the  Giamahiria ,the state of the masses ..where the colonel on the same date in 1977 changed the country`s political system and introduced his Green Book.

 We left the hotel to the very near conference hall called by Libyans AL JAIMA (j in Spanish) which means the tent where we had to wait for Gheddafi for 2 hours....and for security reasons even our lighters and cell phones were taken!

I started translating to  Italian that long annoying speech of the colonel who did not even recognize the Libyan crisis, on the other hand  he challenged the western head of states that he is more popular than them in their countries...Such nonsense continues for 2 hours and half and even Dante’s Italian won`t be able to translate it.

 Was a good start or ALLA GRANDE as we say in Italian where Gheddafi`s speech decides is like an entry test  but although my English was as my Italian I have preferred not to show it otherwise I would have ended up translating other silly speeches live on the Libyan TV.

RIXOS SWEET RIXOS

The Rixos hotel was built by the Turkish one year ago as a part of Rixos chain of hotels and it is located in Bab Bengheshir area but it is not far from the Gheddafi compound of Bab Alazizia ... became the press centre for Gheddafi and a sort of trench of media war by the Pro Gheddafi`s ..All meets there: journalists, security agents, people with future ambitions, singers…etc

But the two main teams who deal with the foreign journalists are:

1-      Staff of The Jamahiriya media centre (media corps of Gheddafi) run by  Mussa Ibrahim of Gheddafi family…according to the Libyan law this office/centre  has to deal with the local media not the foreign media but as Mussa was of the royal family so these laws do not concern him.

2-      Staff of the foreign media centre which is in charge at least theoretically to deal with Libyan image in the foreign media run by the Cyrenaican Abdulmajiid Aldursi (leaves the mission to Mussa later).

The  problem of the  foreign journalists that they are forced to cooperate  with inexperienced    media staff...this staff simply was composed of secret agents like   Aisha Jalloud, osama Belkir or members of the revolutionary committees like  Bashir Shinfeer(always with ugly  jeans uniform ) and Mohamed  Salah(the dentist) who takes care about Bab Alazizia visitors  just like the 3 headed dog of the Greek mythology… all those who been to Rixos  can’t miss  Salim  the Russian language speaker with his noble mission , watching if the cameras are filming the silly organized crowds or not , and all the  others with the word   PRESS  on their waistcoats …

Just before leaving the Hotel California, many others have joined the caravan of the first team, strangely all are doctors: Dr Aghila, Dr Ibrahim, Dr Saad manna, Dr Selma Gheddafi,Dr,Dr and Drs…we got more Drs in Rixos Hotel than in NASA itself!

The 2 squads hate each others, everyone thinks that he has the right to supervise and be the key stone with the foreign journalists therefore their result is awful, poor and malfunctioned. Due to their incapability and lack of experience to deal with such events and this why their answer is always negative to any request!

EXAMPLES OF MAL ORGANIZZATION

1-The story of   Iman Al oubedi the woman who managed to get into the hotel and told her rape story by   Gheddafi soldiers to the foreign journalist, put the Libyan minders in difficulty as they lost the trust in each other, but the most absurd thing was the answer of the vice minister of the foreign affairs Khalid Keim during the press conference of the same day to the question of David Kirkpatrick of the New York Times that he does not know anything about the story..!!! While it was on world news headlines 6 hours earlier.

2- at the very beginning of the   NATO bombardments  a visit to a house at the country side of  Tagiura 30 km off Tripoli was organized , to show that civilian targets are  hit by the Nato air strikes  but the surprise was that house was shoot by Kalashnikov…the favorite job of the Libyan intelligence . Borzou Daragahi of the Los Angeles Times was very angry as they tried to cheat his 20 years as war journalist.

3-another visit was to Misurata, freed by the soldiers of Gheddafi (false!!!) but the Bus  had to stop 8 km before  Misurata with endless tentative by the minders  to convince the journalists that this was the city centre giving certainty that it is still in the hands of the rebels .... The French reporter of the Tf1 Liseron Boudoul was speechless except with…c`est bizarre!

3-      Interesting as well another organized visit to show that the NATO is targeting civilians to the agricultural area of Ain zara, what was there? Hole in the ground and traces of missile with letters in Russian language!!!  La NATO l`ha preso in prestito dalla Russia … the NATO has borrowed them from Russia Comments Duelio Gianmaria of the Italian TV.

Then many other stories make you realize that these people have never organized such a thing ... like there is never a time table, information desk or schedule.... The journalists struggle between the offices of the hotel not just to renew the press pass, but also to be able to go out the hotel to buy makeup set or even bottles of water.

I had to work in an environment like that  not because I like it, but just to make a little money to escape, because all my savings  and money have ended up  frozen in the Colonel`s banks.

RIXOS...THE GOLDEN CAGE

Sometimes my Arrival at the hotel in the morning was not peaceful where I see the bus is ready preparing for unknown destination  ... and while I was going to take a coffee a British or American journalist suddenly stops me and asks: do you have any idea what Happened Last Night? There was shooting everywhere in town ... I knew that a major or some officer was killed by gunfire of Gheddafi militias... But should I give him the answer? Not yet let me just study the situation and make a glance to the lobby , cause my fear was just if one of the minders   hear you, you're finished ... I ve` got no idea as I slept like a stone last night but did you ask the minders ? That was my sneaky answer....

Yes and they said it was just celebrations!!! That is the sort of answers that were given to the journalists by the media office.

The lies are the tools of  Gheddafi  media not only at the  minders  level  but also at the level the media bosses like Aisha or  Ibrahim Mussa  as they  pack  a lot of lies to the  reporters thinking that they can cheat them …even their organized visits  are made in way that   they never  go through the hot  spots of Tripoli. ...but my presence in Rixos Hotel with a couple of colleagues was against their will.

Ok I can escape the hot questions in the early morning but I cannot understand the program of the day... But as I start enjoying the    Turkish coffee the boring announcement through the hotel microphone with the ugly voice of one of those revolutionaries who saying: ATTENTION PLEASE... TO ALL THE JOURNALISTS, THE BUS IS LEAVING IN 5 MINUTES ...  it never happened that we left in 5 minutes but in 50 minutes …our destination?   Libyan children demonstration in front of the headquarters of the United Nations!
while I was   working with the France 2  TV  we filmed  a pro Gaddafi  Manifestation in  green square but it was  not  shown on a the same day in France because  it coincided with the famous DSK case, the reporter Frank  was criticized strongly by a certain  Dr Aghila of the media office accusing him of not saying the truth !! So in other words they try in all means to use the foreign media to be in their side.

 

 SHAKEERA IS VERY PRO GHEDDAFI

Shakeera is the nickname that has been given by Graham of the British Channel ITV to the so-called Doctor Yusuf SHAKEER originally from Benghazi and former opponent of the regime Gheddafi who was 24 hours at the lobby of Rixos, for his daily long show on the Libyan TV to tell what was happening in his own way and also with his wife and her family were able to judge the work of the foreign journalists (some foreign journalists were expelled from Libya, just because of his wife`s mood ....she was convinced that John Fisher burns got direct contact with the NATO   !!!!).

 It has been awarded for his work by giving him a car, one for his wife and one for the mother-in-law rather than the food drinks and the accommodation ... He was protected by. Seven bodyguards (one of which was killed in front of the hotel). During one of his TV shows he reported that a chicken made green eggs, a great divine message to testify the victory of Gheddafi.

FOREIGNER PRO GHEDDAFI

In this Libyan freedom  war, Gheddafi did not just paid for non Libyan soldiers who fought in the battle front but also paid for some journalists to win the war of media, the hotel Rixos was the basis of these people who were given accommodation, food and transportation  or promised of having  future commercial deals in case of regime was succeeded to stay in power  (super pocket money as well) ...
1-Nahada Zirwati of the Algerian newspaper ALMOSTAKBAL....
2-Ali shondub the correspondent of the Lebanese TV LBC....
3 - Jordan Jesus of  the South American network Tele Sur  which is financed 

by Hugo Chavez (Tele Chavez)...

4-Al Habib Laswad journal of Tunisia Alshorouk.....
5-Mahmud Kampar of Russia Today Arabic ...
6-Omar,the cameraman and the handyman of the Iraqi channel Alrai ,that broadcasts from Damascus.

Other attempts to attract Western media or unknown associations like the British citizens the founders of the Fact Finding Committee with its members:

David Roberts (Delegation Leader)
Dr . Anour Izzadine (Forensic Doctor) 
Mrs Nidaa Sabbagh ( Political Writer) 
Mr Manzur Sadaq ( Humanitarian Worker/Campaigner)
Mr Baboo Zanghar ( Humanitarian Worker/Campaigner )
Mr Ishmahil Blagrove (Independent Journalist and Filmmaker)
Mr Majed Sabbagh (Humamitarian worker/interpreter)
Mr Richard Mejeh (Independent Filmmaker)
Mr Mohamed Elhaddad (Arabic Society UK)
Mr Martin Longhurst ( Humanitarian Worker/campaigner)
Mr Agab Eldoor Khamis ( Veterinary Surgeon ) WHAT FOR?!!!

Mr Mohielddin Zakaria (Humanitarian worker)
Mr Sukant Chandan (Independent Journalist)

The same committee  has also included  as well an Italian lady  resident in Libya with the strong commercial ties with the regime Tiziana Cammonnazzi and the ex BBC reporter Fulvio Grimaldi.

Guy Sitbon of the left French newspaper la Marianne, was courageous and  refused to write what they want and told me personally that he does not have a clue to help the regime because   pas de chance pour lui.
 The service gratuity has also touched another Frenchman Pierre Bonnard.....? Who introduces himself with his Tunisian colleague Ghazi as simple Business men in Libya just to help the Libyan people!!!(No Merci),

 ADIOS RIXOS

I just had enough of this silly job for almost nothing ( Mussa considers us a volunteers) ... Not only so, but things have gotten worse for me when so many people who do not know me, started to think that I’m Pro ...  Gaddafi!!! They might be right because I was seen on France 24 Report (Journalists sous surveillance)

www.france24.com/fr/20110602-reporters-libye-Mouammar-Kadhafi-otan-Willy-BRACCIANO-france24

 Although in that report I spoke only about Roman history and the archaeological Roman city of Sabratha........!  But I was seen as a spy by the secret service of Gheddafi...i was passing a lot of time with the French and Italian journalists  and a puppet of Gaddafi by the other Libyans anti Gheddafi........ I decided to escape...and that was thanks to the help of someone who had let me cross the border with Tunisia just before my name was among the security black list... And   thanks as well   to the French team of France 2 who have hidden my laptop with them... I ran away from my country in which life became tough as talking in a foreign language and having a laptop became a crime!

N.B: on the same reportage of France 24 JOURNALISTES SOUS SURVEILLANCE you will see as well some  of the above mentioned names like Basher shinfeer the English translator with the jeans T shirt, Mohamed salah the dentist who speaks English at Bab Alazizia and M Pierre Bonnard.

AHMED FERGIANI