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05/03/2010

SPIEGEL: Doesn't your anger with Switzerland in reality stem from the fact that your son Hannibal was arrested by police in Geneva in July 2008 and accused of beating up two people in his employment?

Gadhafi: The thing with Hannibal has been nothing but a source of enjoyment for Switzerland. This is a gang that doesn't care about law and order. The way they treated Hannibal proves that Switzerland respects no laws. A man employed by my son brought accusations against him so that he could remain in Switzerland. They can lock him up -- but please do so within the law. The police acted like a gang. They were dressed in plain clothes and they broke down the door, put my son in chains and brought his wife to a hospital. They left his daughter, who is one or two years old, alone back at the hotel. Then they put him handcuffed in a cold storage room, and at times in a bathroom -- exactly the way al-Qaida treats its victims. An act of terrorism.

SPIEGEL: According to the Swiss authorities, something entirely different happened in Geneva. They say that your son beat up two people there.

Gadhafi: No, no. Nothing like that happened. Switzerland has not said that to me nor to anyone else. I'm hearing this now for the first time.

SPIEGEL: But similar things have also happened elsewhere. Your sons have also run into trouble with the police in London, Paris and Germany. What do you say to them when something like this happens?

Gadhafi: These are cases of youthful exuberance. In France, for example, my son allegedly drove through a red light. That is normal and nothing out of the ordinary.

SPIEGEL: Allow us to ask once again: Are you really hearing today for the first time that your son allegedly severely beat two people?

Gadhafi: Yes, I'm hearing this now for the first time. All I heard was that the employee complained that Hannibal and his family had mistreated him. I oppose such behavior, whether it is in Switzerland, in Libya or elsewhere. What I am protesting against is the way action is being taken against him.

SPIEGEL: While we are talking about your sons -- which of the seven is closest to you?

Gadhafi: I love all of my sons equally. The question of which of them I prefer doesn't even arise.

SPIEGEL: In Europe it was presumed for a long time that your second-born, Saif al-Islam, would be your successor.

Gadhafi: I am not a king; I don't need a successor to the throne. (Laughs.) In Libya the people rule.

SPIEGEL: Your son told us that, as a matter of principle, the office of revolutionary leader cannot be inherited.

Gadhafi: That is correct.

SPIEGEL: Saif al-Islam has negotiated in a number of hostage-taking situations and is respected abroad. Even if he doesn't become your successor, what plans do you have for him?

Gadhafi: He has studied and is well-read; he is a man of the world and has reached an age where he requires no more help from me.

SPIEGEL: He has criticized you on occasion, for example, in the case of the Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor who spent eight years in prison because they allegedly deliberately infected Libyan children with HIV. Saif al-Islam admitted that the women had been tortured.

Gadhafi: The investigations have produced other results. I still believe that there was a conspiracy to kill the Libyan children.

SPIEGEL: You have recently been to Europe on a number of occasions. Who do you see as your closest friend among the European heads of state and government?

Gadhafi: My closest friend in Europe is Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, but a few others are also close to me.

SPIEGEL: What do you think of German Chancellor Angela Merkel?

Gadhafi: She is a strong personality. More like a man than a woman. But I have never had a conversation with her.

SPIEGEL: Merkel's predecessor Gerhard Schröder visited you in Libya. Would you accept an invitation to Germany?

Gadhafi: Of course I would accept such an invitation.

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• Part 1: 'Switzerland Should be Dissolved as a State'
• Part 2: 'Switzerland Respects no Laws'
• Part 3: 'No One is Talking about Throwing Jews into the Sea'