to italy. and the head of nato said today that moammar gadhafi s four-decade rule is coming to an end. and to punctuate that statement, two large explosions heard in tripoli tonight as jets flew overhead. today the embattled libyan leader met in tripoli with the south african president jacob zuma, who said gadhafi is ready to accept a cease-fire. but neither man said anything about gadhafi stepping down, which of course is the main demand of the opposition. and zuma has not called on him to quit. the fact remains that more than three months after rebels rose up against him gadhafi is still holding on to power and it appears by any means necessary. soldiers who have deserted to the opposition allege that gadhafi s forces are using rape as a weapon of war. senior international correspondent nic robertson spoke to some of those men. reporter: in this makeshift rebel jail this gadhafi army deserter tells us what he saw before he fled his post.
i want to bring you up to date now on the situation in libya. the italian government says that eight libyan generals and more than 100 soldiers have defected to italy. and the head of nato said today that moammar gadhafi s four-decade rule is coming to an end. and to punctuate that statement, two large explosions heard in tripoli tonight as jets flew overhead. today the embattled libyan leader met in tripoli with the south african president jacob zuma, who said gadhafi is ready to accept a cease-fire. but neither man said anything about gadhafi stepping down, which of course is the main demand of the opposition. and zuma has not called on him to quit. the fact remains that more than three months after rebels rose up against him gadhafi is still holding on to power and it appears by any means necessary. soldiers who have deserted to the opposition allege that gadhafi s forces are using rape as a weapon of war. senior international correspondent nic robertson
to italy. and the head of nato said today that moammar gadhafi s four-decade rule is coming to an end. and to punctuate that statement, two large explosions heard in tripoli tonight as jets flew overhead. today the embattled libyan leader met in trim o ly with the south african president jacob zuma, who said gadhafi is ready to accept a cease-fire. but neither man said anything about gadhafi stepping down, which of course is the main demand of the opposition. and zuma has not called on him to quit. the fact remains that more than three months after rebels rose up against him gadhafi is still holding on to power and it appears by any means necessary. soldiers who have deserted to the opposition allege that gadhafi s forces are using rape as a weapon of war. senior international correspondent nic robertson spoke to some of those men. reporter: in this makeshift rebel jail this gadhafi army deserter tells us what he saw before he fled his post.
secure. the knowledge no american government will ever do this to its children. to our children. what the syrian government allegedly did to this child. you ll see him right here. his name was hamza ali alkhateeb. just 13 years old. he disappeared from an anti-government rally on the 29th of april. now look away if you need to. these next photos get very, very hard to take. this is what he looked like when his body came home. his kneecaps had been smashed. his head was swollen. his body covered in cigarette burns. he had been embassy claited. according to family accounts on arabic news channels, syrian government officials came to their home last wednesday asking them to sign a waiver accepting hamza s body but only if they wouldn t show the body or say anything about the circumstances of his death. they signed but were so horrified by the condition of his body they could not keep quiet. so they consented to a video of their son s body. it later turned up on al jazeera. almos
jazeera. almost all of it is so grisly we could only show you those two frames. that set off a weekend of outrage as activists raisen zeitouni put it to the washington post, torture is usual in syria. what was special about hamza is he was only 13 years old. a pro-regime television station disputes the allegations, with the doctor who did the autopsy phoning in, saying there s no evidence of torture. he says what you saw came from decomposition. now, right here we need to point out that we have yet to independently confirm these allegations, but bodies don t get covered in cigarette burns when they decompose. they don t lose organs. they don t show every sign the deceased in this case a 13-year-old boy was brutally tortured. and again, the assad regime, father and son, has a long, long record of brutality. according to human rights groups, more than 1,000 people have been killed and 10,000 arrested since the anti-regime protests began. nor has the regime shown the slightest