Prominent Egyptian rights activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim says that "the game is over" for embattled Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi and that the fall of Tripoli will hasten the demise of other regimes in the Arab world, RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan reports.
Ibrahim was a leading figure in the protests that brought down the regime of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak in February, an event that sparked similar uprisings throughout the Arab world, including Libya, Yemen, and Syria.
Ibrahim, speaking to RFE/RL by telephone on August 25, described Tripoli's fall into rebel hands as a "peak point in Arab revolutions against tyranny."
"What we are seeing in Libya will accelerate the collapse of regimes in Yemen and Syria. So we consider what is going [on] in Libya as a milestone on the road of [the] Arab Spring to democracy."
Ibrahim said he thinks Qaddafi has "the same plan" as former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in believing the public remains loyal to him, adding that "he doesn't know that the time has changed, and the game is over."
Ibrahim's comments come as rebels seeking the overthrow of Qaddafi's regime sought to consolidate control over the capital. The Libyan leader disappeared from sight on August 23 as rebels overran his fortified compound in Tripoli.
Ibrahim was a leading figure in the protests that brought down the regime of Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak in February, an event that sparked similar uprisings throughout the Arab world, including Libya, Yemen, and Syria.
Ibrahim, speaking to RFE/RL by telephone on August 25, described Tripoli's fall into rebel hands as a "peak point in Arab revolutions against tyranny."
"What we are seeing in Libya will accelerate the collapse of regimes in Yemen and Syria. So we consider what is going [on] in Libya as a milestone on the road of [the] Arab Spring to democracy."
Ibrahim said he thinks Qaddafi has "the same plan" as former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in believing the public remains loyal to him, adding that "he doesn't know that the time has changed, and the game is over."
Ibrahim's comments come as rebels seeking the overthrow of Qaddafi's regime sought to consolidate control over the capital. The Libyan leader disappeared from sight on August 23 as rebels overran his fortified compound in Tripoli.
