Dictator's will on his website Seven Day News includes request for burial in Sirte and for his family to be treated well
A street in Gaddafi's home town, Sirte, this month, before forces of the new regime took control of the city. Photograph: Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images
The embarrassing confusion over what to do with Muammar Gaddafi's body deepened with the emergence of a will appearing to indicate that the dictator's final wish was to be buried in Sirte.
Libya's new leaders have been unable to agree on how to dispose of Gaddafi's remains, five days after he was captured by rebel fighters.
The dithering undermined celebrations in Benghazi on Sunday, from where the National Transitional Council proclaimed an end to Libya's eight-month civil war and an official day of liberation.
Gaddafi's will appeared on his website, Seven Day News. In it, he expresses the desire to be buried next to his "family and friends" in his birthplace, Sirte – of recent days the centre of loyalist resistance and fierce fighting.
The copy of the will was one of three entrusted to relatives; one of them was killed, the second arrested, and the third escaped, according to reports.
In his testament, Gaddafi urges supporters to go on resisting. He alludes to choosing to fight and die inside Libya rather than picking the easier but, in his view, dishonourable route of exile abroad – from where, he implies, he would receive "many offers" of support.
The document, in English translation, says: "This is my will. I, Muammar bin Mohammad bin Abdussalam bi Humayd bin Abu Manyar bin Humayd bin Nayil al Fuhsi Gaddafi, do swear that there is no other God but Allah and that Mohammad is God's Prophet, peace be upon him. I pledge that I will die as Muslim.
"Should I be killed, I would like to be buried, according to Muslim rituals, in the clothes I was wearing at the time of my death and my body unwashed, in the cemetery of Sirte, next to my family and relatives.
"I would like that my family, especially women and children, be treated well after my death. The Libyan people should protect its identity, achievements, history and the honourable image of its ancestors and heroes.
"The Libyan people should not relinquish the sacrifices of the free and best people. I call on my supporters to continue the resistance, and fight any foreign aggressor against Libya, today, tomorrow and always.
"Let the free people of the world know that we could have bargained over and sold out our cause in return for a personal secure and stable life.
"We received many offers to this effect but we chose to be at the vanguard of the confrontation as a badge of duty and honour.
"Even if we do not win immediately, we will give a lesson to future generations, that choosing to protect the nation is an honour and selling it out is the greatest betrayal that history will remember forever, despite the attempts of the others to tell you otherwise."
On Sunday night hundreds of Libyans were still queuing up to view Gaddafi's corpse, which has been kept since last week in cold storage in Misrata. Local transitional council representatives have refused to allow his burial in their town.
Tripoli has so far not come up with a plan to deal with the body, which could be seen as a trophy. The bodies of Gaddafi's son Muatassim, and his ex-defence minister, Abu Bakr Younis, are also on show.
Speaking in Jordan, Libya's departing prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril, said he would not oppose an inquiry into Gaddafi's death, but that there was "no reason" to doubt the credibility of an official report that the ousted leader died in cross-fire.
He said: "Have you seen a video of somebody killing him? I haven't seen any video tape or mobile film that shows somebody is killing Gaddafi."
Jibril also said consultations were starting for the formation of the interim government, within a month, replacing the council. "This process will take, I think, from one week to one month approximately. This is my expectation. It might go longer, it might be less than that," he said, according to Reuters.
Jibril claimed he did not plan to stand for any position in Libya's new government but said that the parliament head would become the "temporary or provisional president of the country".
Presidential elections would follow, leading to Libya's first elected government.
But one of many obstacles facing Libya's provisional leadership is its own human rights record, and the question of whether Gaddafi was killed in the minutes following his capture in Sirte.
Libya's chief pathologist confirmed on Sunday that Gaddafi had died of a gunshot wound to the head. It is still unclear who fired the fatal shot.
Othman al-Zintani, the pathologist, did the autopsy on the body at a morgue in Misrata. He said it was "obvious" the colonel had died "from a gunshot wound to the head". He seemed to be referring to a visible wound on the left side of Gaddafi's head.
Al-Zintani said: "There are still several issues. We have to pass [the report] to the prosecutor general. But everything will be revealed publicly. Nothing will be hidden."
Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, and the new British defence secretary, Philip Hammond, yesterday both called for a full investigation.
The Libyan revolutionaries' image had been "a little bit stained" by Gaddafi's death, Hammond said, adding that the new government "will want to get to the bottom of it in a way that rebuilds and cleanses that reputation".
Hammond told the BBC. "It's certainly not the way we do things. We would have liked to see Gaddafi going on trial to answer for his misdeeds."
Clinton told NBC's Meet the Press that she backed a proposal for the UN to investigate Gaddafi's death and for the National Transitional Council look into the circumstances, too.
The New York-based group Human Rights Watch, which viewed the bodies, said video footage, photos and other information it had obtained "indicate that [those killed] might have been executed after being detained". Sarah Leah Whitson, of Human Rights Watch, said: "Finding out how they died matters."
The Syrian-based Al-Rai TV station, which has served as a mouthpiece for the Gaddafi clan, said the dictator's wife, Safiya, was also demanding an investigation. "I am proud of the bravery of my husband … the holy warrior, and my sons who confronted the aggression of 40 countries over the past six months," the station quoted the widow as saying.
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