Al-Qaeda commander calls for overthrow of Gaddafi and introduction of Sharia Law

Abu Yahia al-Libi, the head of Sharia committee of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan/Pakistan, has urged his Muslims countrymen to overthrow the regime of Moammar Gaddafi and establish the Islamic rule, taking advantage of current events that sweep through the region, UmmaNews reports citing the Associated Press.

Sheikh Abu Yahia said in his video address that after the fall of the regimes in Tunisia and Egypt, it is now Gaddafi's turn, as rebel fighters there wage a nearly month-long campaign to oust him.

He named the Arab autocratic national governments as the enemies of Islam who practiced the worst kind of oppression with the backing of the West and failed to learn from history.

"Now it is the turn of Gaddafi after he made the people of Libya suffer for more than 40 years," Sheikh Abu Yahia said, adding that it would bring shame to the Libyan people if the tyrant were allowed to die a peaceful death.

Previously, Muammar Gaddafi said that al- Qaeda was behind the Libyan uprising seeking to end his dictatorship that lasts for more than 40 years.

It is worth noting that Gaddafi brutally suppressed any attempts to appeal to Monotheism and to implement the Sharia Law which are an integral part of Islam. He forbade the imams to preach in their sermons (hutbah) on issues associated with politics, and also brutally punished the Libyans who had fought in Afghanistan.

Sheikh Abu Yahia said that the ousting of Western-backed Arab regimes was "a step to reach the goal of every Muslim, that is to make the word of Allah the supreme" and establish the Islamic rule.

It should be added that Sheikh Abu Yahia al-Libi has been held in a U.S. military prison at Bagram airbase in Afghanistan for a long time, before escaping in 2005. After that, he took an active part in the Jihad in eastern Afghanistan bordering Pakistan.

In his 31-minute video message, al-Libi also criticized the hypocrisy of the U.S. leaders who now stand on the side of the rebels and strongly support them, although recently they actively supported the Gaddafi's regime.

In conclusion, Sheikh Abu Yahia urged Lybians not to look towards the Western countries, not to seek their help, and to go by their own way:

"We have to get rid of our inferiority complex and free ourselves from the West," he said.