One day, a journalist told Muammar Gaddafi:
“Libya is not a democratic country.”
Gaddafi asked him:
“Why do you say that?”
The journalist replied:
“Because in France and in America, citizens can criticize Jacques Chirac and George Bush without being arrested.”
Gaddafi calmly responded:
“In Libya too, people can criticize Jacques Chirac and George Bush — and they won’t be arrested for it.”
This short exchange illustrates Gaddafi’s sarcastic and authoritarian approach to criticism — emphasizing that while criticizing foreign leaders was safe, doing the same to him was not. His answer, though witty, indirectly confirmed the lack of freedom of speech in Libya