What Is True/Slant?
275+ knowledgeable contributors.
Reporting and insight on news of the moment.
Follow them and join the news conversation.
 

Nov. 16 2009 - 2:00 pm | 111 views | 0 recommendations | 4 comments

Gadaffi’s sexy Italian Islam party

The leader de facto of Libya, Muammar al-Gaddafi.

Image via Wikipedia

Libyan leader Muammar al-Gadaffi, visiting Rome for the world ‘Hunger Summit’ being held by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, lived up to his reputation for eccentricity.

Al-Gadaffi hired 200 young women off of an Italian “model” website… and then bought them to a party where they were lectured on Islam.

The site in question, hostessweb, is promoted as an Italian community and portfolio hosting for models and photographers.

The ad, by the Hostessweb agency, was very specific in the kind of woman that should attend and read: “Seeking 500 attractive girls between 18 and 35 years old, at least 1.70 meters (5 foot, 7 inches) tall, well-dressed but not in mini-skirts or low cut dresses.”

Some 200 women showed up at a Rome villa, having been told they would receive €60 ($90) and “some Libyan gifts.” Among them was an undercover reporter for Italian news agency ANSA, who took photos and described the evening’s proceedings.

Attendees were surprised when the party turned out to be a long-winded, typically Gadaffian rant on the virtues of Islam. Marc Duff of the BBC reports that 200 women in all were picked up in a caravan of buses from central Rome and driven to an outlying residential area where the Leader was waiting.

The lecture itself was, of course, interesting:

The Libyan leader said it was “untrue that Islam is against women” according to Corriere della Sera. He urged the women to convert to Islam, pointing out that whereas there were four different Gospels, there was only one Koran.

He then observed — to “general incredulity” — that Christ had not died on the Cross and been resurrected, as Christians believe, because the person crucified had been “a look-alike” who was substituted for the real Jesus.

“Convert to Islam. Jesus was sent to the Jews, not for you. Mohammed, on the other hand, was sent for all human beings,” he reportedly said. “Whoever goes in a different direction than Mohammed is wrong. God’s religion is Islam, and whoever follows a different one, in the end, will lose,” Colonel Gaddafi added, according to La Stampa.

He said women must do only “what their physical condition allows them”, and spoke about the role that women played during the Second World War. He claimed that in the West women “have often been used as pieces of furniture, changed whenever it pleases men. And this is an injustice.” He then invited the women to travel to the Islamic holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

Guests were handed out complimentary Korans and copies of al-Gadaffi’s own Green Book. Also included in the package was a pamphlet called “How to be a Muslim.”

Despite al-Gadaffi being in Rome for the ‘Hunger Summit,’ guests were not given anything to eat or drink.

Also in attendance at the conference, though not at al-Gadaffi’s soiree, is noted anti-hunger campaigner Robert Mugabe.


Comments

4 Total Comments
Post your comment »
 
  1. collapse expand

    This is almost impossible to believe and if it was any one else besides Gadaffi, it would have to be fake. But this makes sense for this guy. These poor girls, though. What kind of modeling agency allows 200 of their models to go wherever with Gadaffi. Does Gadaffi have advisers in his staff and do they tell him, yes that’s a great idea, or do they try to dissuade him?

  2. collapse expand

    Have you seen Gadaffi’s female bodyguards? http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?t=48048

    They look like emale warriors in one of those 1980s B-movies (“Deadly Amazons Battle Mutants in a Post-Apocalyptic World Gone Mad”)

  3. collapse expand

    What a way to convert to ones religion. That is one thing one would not see every day.
    http://www.eyeonmodel.com/

Log in for notification options
Comments RSS

Post Your Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment

Log in with your True/Slant account.

Previously logged in with Facebook?

Create an account to join True/Slant now.

Facebook users:
Create T/S account with Facebook
 

My T/S Activity Feed

 
     

    About Me

    A New York-based journalist and blogger who has spent extensive time in the Middle East and is currently working on an MA thesis in Middle Eastern Studies. My thesis focuses on the 2009 Iranian election demonstrations and their coverage in the international media.

    See my profile »
    Followers: 106
    Contributor Since: July 2009
    Location:New York NY