DIAB Alhmeel raised a clenched fist in victory to a passing friend but his face was etched with grief.
The 36-year-old owner of Meet@Net cafe was celebrating the death of Colonel Gaddafi along with the rest of Bournemouth’s large Libyan community.
But he had mixed emotions because his 25-year-old brother was captured and executed by the dictator’s son’s bodyguards only four weeks ago in Bani Walid.
“I spoke to my brother the day before,” said Mr Alhmeel, as he watched the latest news.
“He was full of energy and determination to fight for his country.”
Like every expatriate interviewed by the Echo yesterday he wished Gaddafi – who reputedly studied at a Bourne-mouth’s Kings College language school in the 1960s – had been captured alive.
Nezar Dahayes, 28, a language student from Tripoli sat with friends outside Caffe Nero monitoring the news on laptops and offering congratulations to passing compatriots.
He said: “It would have been better to put him on trial but I am so happy.
“I am going next week. I already have a job in telecommunications. I think am going to do a volunteer job to give something back my country.”
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