EPCC Professor From Libya Books First Flight Back Home In 32 Years

Libyan Sulaiman Abushagur is going home in December for the first time in 32 years.

“I wish I was in Libya right now,” said Abushagur. “I left when I was so young. I want to spend the whole night walking around, saying, ‘Oh God, thank God I’m alive.'”

Abushagur had made a vow not go back to Libya until dictator Moammar Gadhafi was either ousted or killed. As news broke that Gadhafi had, in fact, been killed Thursday, Abushagur received multiple calls from excited relatives.

“It’s a feeling like the whole country (of Libya) is jumping up and down. This is a victory for the world,” said Abushagur.

Now a restaurant owner and geology professor at El Paso Community College, Abushagur left Libya for Texas in the 1970s. He said he left after being unfairly jailed for protesting Gadhafi’s rule.

“(Gadhafi) started converting the universities to military schools. He said, ‘We don’t need scientists. We need soldiers.’ We refused to go (to the military schools) and they took us to jail. I was harassed and so I decided to leave Libya. I told myself I would never return until (Gadhafi) was out,” Abushagur said.

Abushagur said he hopes Libya will continue getting international support in fostering a democratic government that could one day serve as a good example for other Arab nations in turmoil, such as Syria and Yemen.