A WATERFORD-BORN computer engineer with dual Libyan-Irish nationality was killed in rebel-held Benghazi this week after a senior figure in Muammar Gadafy’s local organisation opened fire in an affluent area of the city.
Rami el-Kaleh (28) died on Tuesday night after he was shot in the back while driving with a friend close to the Egyptian and Swedish consulates.
Mr el-Kaleh, who lived in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, had been visiting his family in Benghazi last month when anti-regime protests in the city prompted a full-blown revolt against the Gadafy regime.
A supporter of the uprising, he later became an unarmed volunteer in one of the revolutionary citizens’ groups charged with patrolling Benghazi at night.
He was on one such patrol when the car he was travelling in came under fire from a well-known Gadafy loyalist shortly after 11pm on Tuesday.
Mr el-Kaleh’s injuries were so severe that he died en route to hospital. He was buried yesterday.
Mr el-Kaleh was born in Waterford in 1983 but his family returned to Libya shortly after his birth. At the time, his father, Shueib, worked for an Irish company involved in exporting meat and livestock to Libya. “We are devastated,” a tearful Mr el-Kaleh told The Irish Times last night. “I had so many expectations for my son and his future and now all of that has disappeared.”
Mr el-Kaleh said his son, who had previously worked in Italy, was due to get married later this year and had also been planning a visit to Ireland.
The shooting incident has raised fears in Benghazi regarding pro-Gadafy elements that did not flee the city after the uprising.
Meanwhile, a group of Libyans with professional and family connections in Ireland is calling on the Government to follow France in recognising the Libyan National Council as the legitimate representative of the Libyan people.
“Ireland and Libya are linked on many levels and relations between the two have been strong for a long time,” said Prof Jamal Ben-Amer, a Benghazi-based doctor whose wife, Gina, is from Dublin.
Prof Ben-Amer has treated many of those injured during the regime’s brutal crackdown on protesters. “We believe Ireland should realise that there is a new reality in Libya for the benefit and mutual interest of both countries.”
Col Gadafy’s son Saif said yesterday his father was ready to unleash the full might of his forces to crush the three-week-old insurrection.