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Bizarre: Some of the Modern Era’s Oddest Rulers

Khalid Elhassan January 21, 2025 14 min

Bizarre - The coronation of Emperor Bokassa I — The coronation of Emperor Bokassa I. Wikimedia

3. Viciousness Beneath the Bling

fighters capture qaddafi — Libyan rebels capture Gaddafi. Freedom Group

The buffoonish look and bizarre philosophy hid a brutal dictator. Gaddafi’s regime engaged in massive repression, torture, murder, and human rights violations. He often ordered women kidnapped off the street – including teenaged girls – and taken to one of his many palaces. At least one of his victims was kept imprisoned in his basement for six years. He forced her to watch porn while snorting cocaine with him, and repeatedly assaulted, urinated on, and subjected her to sundry perversions. Gaddafi was finally overthrown in a 2011 revolt and captured by rebels, who tortured and likely sodomized him before killing him.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.