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Gaddafi's Driver Huneish Nasr And Bodyguard Mansour Dao Speak Out

Gaddafi's Personal Driver And Bodyguard Recount Leader's Final Moments
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Moments before Muammar Gaddafi was captured in Sirte, the former Libyan ruler looked "confused," his driver told The Guardian in an interview.

Huneish Nasr served as Gaddafi's personal driver for 30 years. In a conversation with The Guardian, he describes the final moments he witnessed before being thrown in a cell in Misrata's military barracks. From The Guardian:

"Nasr said he threw his hands up in surrender as gun-toting rebels approached. He was knocked to the ground with a rifle butt, which blackened his left eye. Gaddafi was being pulled from a drainpipe just before Nasr fell. He caught a final glimpse of his master being swarmed over by rebels. Then blows rained down on them both."

Earlier this week, Mansour Dao, one of Gaddafi's bodyguards who was caught along with the former Libyan ruler, detailed Gaddafi's final weeks on the run.

According to the Associated Press, Gaddafi and his entourage were "largely cut off from the world while on the run, living in abandoned homes without TV, phones or electricity, using candles for light," and the ousted leader spent his time "reading, jotting down notes or brewing tea on a coal stove."

Dao admitted that Gaddafi and his loyalists "were scared of the airstrikes and shelling," however he maintained that Gaddafi had not been afraid.

Huneish Nasr expressed a similar sentiment. "He wasn't scared, but he didn't seem to know what to do," the driver said of Gaddafi's last stand.

"I feel sorry for him because he underestimated the situation," Dao told the Associated Press. "He could have left and gotten out of the country and lived a happy life."

Those closest to Gaddafi have painted a picture of an unafraid -- and perhaps confused -- man in his final days as he was hunted by Libyan fighters. The former Libyan leader was killed October 20, 2011, in Sirte.

Below, see a timeline of events leading up to the death of Muammar Gaddafi:

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Before You Go

February 16, 2011(01 of22)
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A Libyan prisoner, left, is hugged by his relatives after he was released with a group of 110 prisoners from Abu Salim, Libya's most notorious prison, in Tripoli, Libya, Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2011. Inspired by the unrest in Egypt, residents of Libya's second largest city Benghazi started protesting against the regime of long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi in February 2011. In an attempt to calm the protests, Gaddafi's government released 110 prisoners and offered to double government employees' wages. Yet protests spread to other cities and intense fighting erupted between Gaddafi loyalists and rebel fighters. (credit:AP)
February 26, 2011(02 of22)
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The UN Security Council unanimously ordered an arms embargo against Libya, a travel and assets ban on Muammar Gaddafi's regime, and a crimes against humanity investigation into the bloodshed. By the end of February, the UN said more than 1,000 people had already been killed in the unrest. (credit:Getty)
February 28, 2011(03 of22)
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Hungarian minister of National Development Tamas Fellegi speaks on the situation in Libya on February 28, 2011, at the EU Headquarters in Brussels. The European Union slapped an asset freeze and travel ban on Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and 25 members of his family and inner circle. (credit:Getty)
March 2, 2011(04 of22)
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A young Libyan girl throws a copy of a book authored by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi into a fire on March 2, 2011, in the north central town of Benghazi.Benghazi was 'liberated' from Gaddafi's rule in the beginning of March, yet the Colonel warned the West against intervening to support the rebellion against him, saying that would unleash a 'very bloody war' in which 'thousands of Libyans would die.' (credit:Getty)
March 5, 2011(05 of22)
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Former justice minister Mustafa Abdel Jalil, one of the first high-profile Libyans to defect from Gaddafi's four-decade regime when the uprising began more than two weeks before, gave a press conference on March 5, 2011, in the eastern city of Benghazi, after being appointed chairman of the 30-member National Transitional Council body. Rebels set up local councils in cities they control in the east, while Gaddafi maintained control of Tripoli. (credit:Getty)
March 5, 2011(06 of22)
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Meanwhile, foreign workers desperately tried to leave the violence-stricken country.In this photo, Bangladeshi men who had recently crossed into Tunisia from Libya demand to go home at a United Nations displacement camp in Ras Jdir, Tunisia. Tens of thousands of guest workers from Egypt, Tunisia, Bangladesh and other countries were fleeing to the border of Tunisia to escape the violence. The situation turned into a humanitarian emergency as Tunisia became overwhelmed with the workers. (credit:Getty)
March 17, 2011(07 of22)
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Libyan rebels celebrated in Benghazi as the United Nations Security Council approved a resolution to impose a no-fly zone over Libya. (credit:Getty)
March 19, 2011(08 of22)
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Smoke billows after a Libyan jet bomber crashed after being shot down in Benghazi on March 19, 2011. Supported by a number of Arab nations, a coalition of NATO countries started bombing strategic Gaddafi targets a day earlier. (credit:Getty)
April 20, 2011(09 of22)
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Libyan rebel fighters carry a comrade wounded during an effort to dislodge government loyalist troops firing on them from a building (background) during house-to-house fighting on a Tripoli Street in downtown Misrata.Fighting between revolutionary forces and troops loyal to Gaddafi continued in several Libyan cities throughout the spring. (credit:Getty)
June 27, 2011(10 of22)
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Thousands of Libyans celebrate in rebel-held Misrata's Freedom Square after receiving the news of an arrest warrant issued against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi by the International Criminal Court on June 27, 2011. (credit:Getty)
August 21, 2011(11 of22)
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A Libyan rebel celebrates inside the captured military base, 'Kilometre 27,' for soldiers loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, 16 kilometers west of the centre of Tripoli.Rebels launched an offensive against the Libyan capital, supported by NATO fighter planes. Gaddafi delivered an audio message in which he called the rebels "rats," but revolutionary forces faced little resistance when they entered Tripoli. (credit:Getty)
August 23, 2011(12 of22)
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Rebels capture Muammar Gaddafi's complex in Tripoli, Bab Al Aziziya.The sculpture inside Bab Al Aziziya depicts a fist crushing a jet fighter in the grounds of Gaddafi's former residence after it was bombed in 1986 by U.S. aircraft. (credit:Getty)
August 23, 2011(13 of22)
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After initial reports of his arrest, Saif Al Islam, Gaddafi's son, appears in front of supporters and journalists in the Libyan capital Tripoli. (credit:Getty)
August 24, 2011(14 of22)
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Some 30 mostly foreign journalist had been held at the Rixos Hotel in Tripoli by Gaddafi loyalists. They were freed on August 24 as the siege of Tripoli came to an end. (credit:GEtty)
August 29, 2011(15 of22)
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Gaddafi's wife, daughter and two sons cross the Libyan border into Algeria. Gaddafi's daughter Aisha gave birth a few hours after arriving in Algeria. (credit:Getty)
September 1, 2011(16 of22)
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France's president Nicolas Sarkozy hosts an international conference on the post-Gaddafi era in Paris. Gaddafi releases an audio message that same day, urging loyalists to keep fighting. (credit:Getty)
September 12, 2011(17 of22)
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Mustafa Abdul Jalil, Chairman of the Libyan Transitional Council, enjoyed a hero's welcome as he gave his first speech in Tripoli. In front of thousands of supporters, he declares Islam would be the main source of legislation in the new Libya. (credit:Getty)
September 15, 2011(18 of22)
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British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy were the first foreign leaders to visit post-Gaddafi Libya. Sarkozy is considered to have spearheaded the NATO campaign in Libya. (credit:Getty)
September 16, 2011(19 of22)
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Fighters loyal to Libya's new leaders fire artillery during clashes with pro-Gaddafi forces in the city of Bani Walid, southeast of Tripoli, as National Transitional Council forces thrust deep into the desert oasis town, one of fugitive Gaddafi's few remaining bastions. The UN Security Council decided to ease sanctions on Libya mid-September and approved a request to recognize Libya's National Transitional Council as the sole representative of the country at the United Nations. (credit:Getty)
September 21, 2011(20 of22)
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Libyan National Transitional Council fighters drive a tank at an outpost on the outskirts of the city of Bani Walid on September 21, 2011. Libya's interim government announced it had captured most of Sabha. Gaddafi loyalists remain in control of Gaddafi's birthplace Sirte and the town of Bani Walid. (credit:Getty)
October 13, 2011(21 of22)
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Smoke rises from the center of the Libyan coastal city of Sirte on October 13, 2011, as Libya's new regime fighters retreated under heavy fire from loyalist troops in Muammar Gaddafi's hometown. Although Bani Walid remains in the hands of Gaddafi loyalists, the National Transitional Council declared they will consider all of Libya liberated if Sirte is captured. (credit:Getty)
October 20, 2011(22 of22)
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This image made available by the Al Jazeera television channel claims to show former Libyan leader Muammer Gaddafi after he was killed at an undisclosed location in Libya, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011. Libya's information minister said Gaddafi was killed Thursday when revolutionary forces overwhelmed his hometown, Sirte, the last major bastion of resistance two months after the regime fell. (AP Photo/Al Jazeera) (credit:AP/Al Jazeera)
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