Alai Jannati, who now occupies the post of Minister of Culture of Iran, writes about his memories with former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in an autobiographical book published by Islamic Revolution Documents Center.
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, commonly known as Colonel Gaddafi, was a once Libyan revolutionary and politician who governed Libya as its primary leader from 1969 to 2011. Taking power in a coup d'etat, he ruled as Revolutionary Chairman of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then as the "Brotherly Leader" of the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 to 2011, when he was ousted in the series of uprising in Libya which are considered part of the Arab Spring, also known as Islamic Awakening.
In the autobiography, Jannati writes:
One of the issues that was the case at that time for Imam Khomeini’s residence was that because the French visa was usually defined for a period of three months, due to the trade and economic relations between Iran and France, it was being speculated that due to pressure from the Shah’s regime, after the 3 month period the French government would not agree to Imam’s extended stay. Based on that, we thought we had to hold talks with a number of revolutionary countries’ leader in order to pave the way for Imam Khomeini to move to one of those countries in case the French government did not agree to an extension to his stay.
Due to his relation from previous times with Syrian officials through Imam Susa Sadr, Mr. Qotbzadeh contacted Mr. Hafiz Assad, former Syrian leader, as well as other Syrian officials. It was agreed that he would go to Damascus and talk with Syrian officials about Imam Khomeini’s stay there. About the same time, Mr. Qarazi and I were set to go to Libya and hold talks with Muammar Gaddafi on the issue. Therefore, we called the Libyan embassy in Paris and following the connections we had, we contacted the Libyan foreign minister and arranged things and then went to Libya. There we first met then foreign minister Ahmed Shehata. After that we were set to meet Gaddafi. We stayed there about eight days. When we noticed that they were leading us on and not keeping their promises, we felt that it would be pointless to stay there and we only were going to lose time. Therefore we decided to get back. When we went to the airport, they told us that Mr. Gaddafi had given a time for visit. Since we had been suspicious toward the Libyan government due to the story of Imam Musa Sadr’s disappearance, we were afraid they might get us lost on our way back from the airport. Anyway, we got back and they took us to Gaddafi’s palace right away. There was a garrison inside the palace. Gaddafi had in appearance tries to live a very simple life. In front of the palace a Peugeot was parked, which they told us belonged to him. They told us further that the license plate was a regular one and he used that very car to travel around the city.
When we entered the palace, he came to see us right away. We explained to him that Imam Khomeini was a prominent revolutionary figure in the Islamic world and he fought the Shah. We said that since it was likely that the French government would press Imam to leave Paris after the three month period, we would be happy if he let Imam go there and take residence. Mr. Gaddafi made some speech and expressed amity toward Imam. He said: "I am ready to offer all sorts of help. Right now I am ready to provide financial aid any quantity you would like. Also, if you would need weapons, I would deliver weapons to you at any spot, even on the waters of the Persian Gulf.”
We said no, thank God our nation is rich and we do not need financial aid. The revolutionary and fighters who are active in Iran are supported by the Iranian nation. We always looked down upon the prospect of having to receive financial aid from abroad, even from Gaddafi who used to boast about Islamism.
We did not talk about weapons much either. He was expressing happiness that Imam Khomeini would go to Libya. He even stressed that it was not necessary for Imam to go there after the three month period run out. "I suggest he came here right away,” he would say, adding, "We welcome him and he can stay here as long as he would like to. Here he should feel at home.”
We were happy with Mr. Gaddafi’s approach and got back to Paris right away.
In Paris, in that very little room where Imam Khomeini stayed, we visited him. We disclosed to him the story of our trip to Libya and the talks we had had with Gaddafi. But against our expectations to find Imam happy with the news, he thought for a moment and said "Gaddafi is not trustworthy.” And he added something, the exact sentence I do not remember, but the meaning of it was that one could not trust Gaddafi.
