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For decades, the full horror of Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year rule was concealed behind gilded palace doors and revolutionary rhetoric. While a new Sky HISTORY series, Secret Sex Lives of Tyrants, pulls back the curtain on the dictator’s depraved appetites, the physical evidence of his brutality—the hidden dungeons and gynaecological suites—tells a story that extends far beyond the man himself. It is a story of systemic torture, a nation’s trauma, and a political legacy that continues to claim lives, most recently that of his son and would-be heir, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi.
When the late dictator’s compound at Bab al-Azizia fell to rebel forces in 2011, the world was shown images of gaudy furnishings and kitsch decor. But beneath Tripoli University, a more sinister discovery was made: a nondescript single-storey complex that served as Gaddafi’s private sex lair. Inside, journalists found a bedroom with a double bed lit by a dim orange lamp, a grimy jacuzzi, and—most chillingly—a fully equipped gynaecological suite. Here, on beds fitted with stirrups, young victims were examined for STDs and forced to undergo abortions .
For the new dean of the university, Faisal Krekshi, an OB/GYN himself, the discovery was a professional and personal violation. "I’m shocked. I’m really shocked," he told the BBC at the time, standing amid the surgical instruments. "This is something which confirms our suspicions that this place maybe was used to do some things which were illegal… I don’t want to say rape, but sexual behavior" .
The Machinery of Abuse-The systematic nature of the abuse has since been meticulously documented. French journalist Annick Cojean’s investigative book, Gaddafi’s Harem, pieced together the testimonies of survivors, including a woman identified as "Soraya." At just 15 years old, Soraya was selected by Gaddafi during a school visit in Sirte—marked, as was his custom, with a paternalistic pat on the head. The next day, she was kidnapped and plunged into a five-year nightmare of captivity in a basement beneath the Gaddafi family compound .
The accounts reveal a pyramid of exploitation that extended beyond Gaddafi himself. According to psychologist Seham Sergewa, who interviewed scores of victims for the International Criminal Court, the dictator’s famous all-female Amazonian Guard were often victims themselves. "The women would first be raped by the dictator then passed on, like used objects, to one of his sons and eventually to high-ranking officials for more abuse," Sergewa told investigators. One survivor recounted being forced to watch the execution of 17 students at 2 a.m., ordered to cheer as the men were shot one by one .
Gaddafi’s predation also extended to young boys, kept in a group he called the "services group"—a harem for his pleasure, according to his former chief of protocol, Nuri Al Mismari .
A Contradictory "Feminism"- The depravity stood in stark contrast to the public image Gaddafi cultivated. In his Green Book, he dedicated pages to the "liberation" of women, arguing that men and women were biologically unequal but that women should be respected. He surrounded himself with female bodyguards, presenting himself as a moderniser in the Arab world .
Critics and survivors now view this as the ultimate gaslighting. "He epitomised the macho male," explains Prof. Kaplan in the Sky HISTORY documentary. "He liked having lots of mistresses. They were good trophies." Nesrine Malik, writing in The Guardian in 2011, noted that Gaddafi was "neither a feminist nor moderniser but a man desperate to be recognised for being unique" . His fascination with powerful women like Condoleezza Rice was merely an extension of his desire to possess and control.
The Ghosts of the Regime: The Death of Saif al-Islam-For Libyans, the fight for justice did not end with Gaddafi’s death in a drainpipe in Sirte in October 2011. It has continued against the backdrop of a fractured state, where militias hold more power than the government and the ghosts of the old regime still walk.
On February 3, 2026, that fight intersected with the bloody politics of the present. Libya’s Attorney General’s Office confirmed that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the 53-year-old son of the former dictator, was killed by gunshot wounds at his home in the town of Zintan .
Once seen as a reformist heir apparent—a London School of Economics PhD holder who negotiated with the West—Saif al-Islam had been captured trying to flee to Niger in 2011. Held by a militia in Zintan for years, he was released in 2017 and had re-emerged as a political aspirant, filing to run for president in 2021. His candidacy reignited the deep divisions of the civil war, drawing fierce opposition from factions who still bore the scars of his father's regime .
According to reports from the UG Bulletin, Saif al-Islam was attacked by four masked men. The Public Prosecutor's Office has launched an investigation, confirming that forensic experts are gathering evidence to identify the suspects . The killing underscores the brutal reality that Libya remains a nation where political scores are settled with bullets, not ballots.
An Enduring Legacy of Pain-The fates of Gaddafi’s other children reflect the diaspora of a fallen dynasty. Daughter Aisha, once a UN goodwill ambassador and part of Saddam Hussein's defense team, now lives in exile in Oman. Son Saadi, a would-be footballer, was extradited from Niger and imprisoned in Libya before being released to Istanbul. Hannibal, known for brutalizing servants in Europe, spent a decade in Lebanese prison over the disappearance of a cleric in 1978—a crime he was too young to have committed .
Meanwhile, the physical evidence of Gaddafi's crimes—the dungeon beneath the university—was sealed by transitional authorities in 2011, who feared the full extent of the debauchery would horrify the world . For many Libyans, however, the horror was already known. As one survivor, held for seven years from the age of 15, told investigators: "He violated my body and pierced my soul with a dagger. That blade will never come out" .
With the death of Saif al-Islam, a chapter closes, but for the victims and a nation still struggling to find stability, the legacy of the "Guide" remains a wound that refuses to heal.
