Although this may be the most far-reaching crackdown in Qaddafi鈥檚 41-year rule, he has long crushed dissent in Libya 鈥� sometimes using brutal tactics. In the 1990s, Qaddafi suppressed a student uprising by deploying an Army brigade against them. Many were killed; many others were put in jail.
In 1996, prisoners in Abu Salim Prison (many of them imprisoned during the previously mentioned crackdown) launched an uprising that was harshly quashed 鈥� according to Human Rights Watch, 1,200 prisoners died. Groups opposing Qaddafi鈥檚 regime have come together over the incident in the past. The first protests of the current uprising .
