The Muslim community in Malta yesterday thanked God for the “victory” bestowed upon Libyans after 42 years of dictatorship. Gathered at the mosque in Paola for their Friday prayers, Muslims welcomed the end of Muammar Gaddafi’s stronghold while Libyans expressed their relief that the “whole world had got rid of the dictator”.

In his sermon, Imam Mohammed Elsadi said all dictators and corrupt people “have fallen in the past and will fall in the future”. He congratulated those who contributed to the overthrow of dictatorship, adding that the suffering endured by orphans, widows and those forced to flee their country together with the support of Arab nations, Libyan and Maltese people, including the Maltese government, led to a new era.Asked whether reconciliation was possible after several videos strongly suggesting Col Gaddafi was executed by a frenzied crowd of soldiers who captured him, Imam Elsadi said Libyans were keen on achieving unity and strengthen the Libyan brotherhood. After the sacrifices endured, the Libyan people would not do anything that would spoil their “great victory” and which would go against their goal of unity, he said.

“We hope that this is an end of an era of corruption and the beginning of an era of goodness, the end of an era of fear and the beginning of an era of security and peace, the end of an era of dictatorship and the beginning of an era of democracy in Libya,” Imam Elsadi said. Col Gaddafi’s overthrow, he added, meant the end of the violation of human rights of Libyan people deprived of their right to enjoy their country’s resources.