Ghazi Gheblawi

Ghazi Gheblawi (born 1975 in Tripoli) is a Libyan physician, author, blogger, and activist who has lived in Britain since 2002.

Early life and education Gheblawi grew up in Tripoli. "As one of a generation that grew up under Gaddafi's repressive and brutal dictatorship," he has written, "I know what it feels like when the basic goal of your existence becomes survival. Libyans like me who opposed his regime (whether subtly or overtly) had to develop a dual personality. Learning how to talk and write publicly in code became a vital skill to avoid persecution, not only of yourself but your family and friends."

He studied medicine in Tripoli.

Career

Since 2002, he has lived in Britain, where he works as a physician and writes frequently about the situation in his native country. He was one of the founders of the net journal [Libya Alyoum] (Libya Today), where he was culture editor from 2004 to 2009. Since March 2011, he has been the international editor-in-chief for the Libya Press News Agency, an independent news portal based in London. He blogs regularly about Libya and the Arab world.

He has published two short-story collections in Arabic, and has published poems in English in various periodicals.

As of December 2015, he was a member of the council of the Society for Libyan Studies.

2011 Libyan Civil War

"When opposition forces began their operation to liberate Tripoli a few days ago," he wrote in August 2011, "one of the first things I noticed, speaking to my family in the capital, was that for the first time they were publicly denouncing Gaddafi, his sons and his regime. Doing that had in itself become an act of liberation....But it wasn't only personal fear that began to dissipate inside us during the last six months. We began also actively reclaiming a nation that had been hijacked for more than four decades....In just six months, a generation of young Libyans has begun to learn what it might mean to enjoy a life not ruled by the oppressive terror of falling foul of the rulers. Once they tasted this forbidden fruit, there was no going back."

In August 2013, BBC World broadcast an "audio essay" written and read by Gheblawi. He lamented the "serious problems" that now afflicted Libya, including continued conflict between different groups and a lack of law and order, all of which had led to widespread "despair and frustration" among the Libyan people. Still, he said, he was one of many Libyans who still maintained a "modest level of hope" for the country's future.

In a December 2015 article, Gheblawi complained that the international community and local leaders alike were at fault for the failure to build and maintain stable national institutions in Libya after Gaddafi's fall. This failure, he charged, had led to the instability, violence, and terrorism that were now threatening the country and region. He rejected the idea that it would have been better to keep Gaddafi in power, pointing out that the dictator had not only suppressed freedoms in Libya but also helped finance, plan, and carry out terrorist attacks around the world.

In January 2016, Gheblawi took part in a BBC World Service discussion of the current situation in Libya. He described the state of affairs in Tripoli as tense, although people were trying to live as normal a day-to-day life as possible.

Other professional activities

He gave a presentation about the Arab Spring at the 2011 Oslo Freedom Forum.