Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi early Tuesday denied reports he had fled as anti-government protests against his regime intensified. The Libyan leader gave a brief statement, saying: "I am in Tripoli and not in Venezuela. Don't believe those dogs."
Speaking from a car while holding an umbrella, he also said he had been "in Green Square with the youths". Earlier, a senior source in the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's government had denied the claims.
Meanwhile, the President of the World Union for Muslim Scholars, Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi on Monday evening, issued a fatwa to kill Colonel Gaddafi and urged Libyan military personnel not to obey orders to fire on demonstrators. He made these remarks in a live interview with Al Jazeera TV.
Sheikh Qaradawi said: "I call for those from the Libyan army who can fire a bullet at the Gaddafi to kill him and relieves the Libyan people from evil." Qaradawi also condemned the silence of the international community towards what was happening in Libya. "Hundreds of people were killed in a few hours and the world is silent. If this happened in Israel or Europe the entire world would come up, but now the world is silent. Why not do something?", Qaradawi asked.
