The bedrock of Libya’s traditionally conservative society has been shaken by a chilling series of recent events: sons, seemingly devoid of the most fundamental human compassion, have allegedly committed unspeakable acts of violence against the very mothers who bore and raised them. Some lie suspended between life and death in intensive care, victims of violence inflicted by those closest to them.
Domestic Spat
The latest chapter in this unfolding human tragedy centres on an elderly woman allegedly struck with force by a sharp implement wielded by her son, the catalyst a bitter family dispute. The son’s anger, left unchecked, apparently spiralled into a deadly rage, leaving his mother teetering on the brink in a hospital’s intensive care ward. The accused son, meanwhile, has been taken into custody,.
The harrowing details of this incident were brought to the public’s attention by lawyer Essam al-Tajouri, who recounted the grim late-night arrival at Benghazi’s Al-Jalaa Hospital of an elderly woman in a critical condition. She was reportedly brought to the hospital drenched in her blood, the victim of a blow to the head from a sharp weapon – a machete. Immediate admission to intensive care followed, the scene cloaked in atmosphere of shock and profound disbelief.
According to the testimony of the woman’s husband, the alleged perpetrator was none other than their eldest son, who is accused of committing this appalling and inhumane act in the wake of a fierce argument with his mother. Initial inquiries suggest the root of the conflict lay in escalating tensions between the son’s wife and his mother, with the son choosing to side with his spouse against the woman who had nurtured and cared for him, a familial rupture that culminated in a horrifying crime.
Swiftly following the report of this heinous act, a security patrol from the Berka police station mobilised, apprehending the suspect. During the arrest, the accused was reportedly screaming hysterically, claiming to be “bewitched,” adding a disturbing and tragic layer of the bizarre to the already horrific scene.
Questions Swirl Around Motives and the Shadow of “Bewitchment”
Reflecting on this deeply disturbing crime, Dr. Jazia Shuaiteer, a professor of criminal law and a member of the UN mission’s advisory committee, suggested that this type of incident demands a profound analysis through the prisms of criminal sociology, the sociology of punishment, and criminal psychology, perhaps even more so than a strict application of the penal code and its supplementary legislation.
Meanwhile, Saleh Abu al-Khair, a member of the preparatory committee for the “Libya: Another Face” project, seized upon the suspect’s claim of being “bewitched” during his arrest, arguing that “‘I am bewitched’ has become a facile and hackneyed excuse for every perpetrator seeking to evade responsibility.” He added: “I vividly recall an incident involving a soldier who rebelled against his command and then publicly declared, ‘I am bewitched.’ Sadly, ‘bewitchment’ has become a political slogan and a social behaviour, all of which serves the interests of those who provide this ‘magic’ and its ‘resistance’ as a means of survival in the political and social arena.”
This appalling tale is not an isolated aberration in the often-complex relationship between mothers and their sons. Just this past February, Sirte was rocked by another equally gruesome crime, in which a man in his thirties allegedly murdered his own mother by slashing her with a piece of glass.
The Sirte Security Directorate, in a statement, revealed that its Criminal Investigation Department received a distressing phone report indicating that a young man identified as (M.I.D.A.), born in 1991 and unemployed, had killed his mother, (F.A.A.A.), born in 1956, by a piece of glass.
The directorate explained that security forces mobilised to the crime scene, where investigation and inquiry units from the Criminal Investigation Department in Sirte, under the direct supervision of the Public Prosecution, initiated their procedures, successfully apprehending the suspect and taking all necessary legal measures against him in preparation for his trial.
In Jufra: Stabbing and Strangulation
In a similarly disturbing vein, the southern city of Al-Jufra witnessed another horrific murder this past January, in which a young man allegedly murdered his mother by stabbing her with a knife. Not content with this brutal act, he then proceeded to strangle her and hang her body in an attempt to stage her death as a suicide.
The Jufra Security Directorate disclosed the details of this crime, stating that the body of a woman was discovered hanging by a rope from her neck inside her bedroom. Upon the arrival of the investigation and inquiry team, clear stab wounds were found on the victim’s hand, alongside amounts of blood on her bed. Initial examination also confirmed the presence of signs of strangulation around her neck, unequivocally ruling out the possibility of suicide.
The directorate added that during the interrogations of the victim’s children, one confessed to committing the appalling crime, revealing that his motives stemmed from a heated dispute with his mother over the sale of a car. The perpetrator admitted to inflicting multiple fatal stab wounds on his mother with a knife, before proceeding to hang her body from the window of her apartment in a desperate attempt to mislead investigators. The Security Directorate concluded its statement by confirming that the commission of this horrific crime occurred under the influence of narcotic substances.
These brutal incidents of sons turning violently against their own parents far transcend the boundaries of mere criminal acts punishable by law. Instead, they delve into profound human, social, and ethical dimensions that shake the very foundations of the Libyan family unit and cast a dark shadow over the deeply ingrained values of a conservative Arabic society – a society that traditionally venerates its elders, shows compassion to its young, and extends kindness to its vulnerable