The body of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi will be handed to his relatives in a deal reached with Libya's interim government, Sky News television reported on Sunday.
"I think the decision has been taken already, which is to hand over the body of Gaddafi to his extended family,” Sky News quoted the National Transitional Council's (NTC) foreign affairs spokesman Ahmed Jibreel as saying.
“Some [relatives] are in Sirte and some in other cities. We expect this to happen very soon. If not in the coming hours, it will be in a few days,” Jibreel said.
He added that the location of his grave had not been determined yet, but said it had to be secret to prevent making it a shrine by loyalists.
Gaddafi’s body is currently being kept in a chiller room in a shopping center in Misrata, and hundreds of Libyans have been queuing to see it.
There is still much controversy over the circumstances surrounding his death.
The NTC officials claim he was caught in crossfire between loyalists and anti-Gaddafi troops but witnesses say he was shot dead point-blank by young rebels after being captured.
Russia and international human rights groups have called for an independent investigation into how the 69-year-old dictator, who ruled the country for 42 years, was killed.
Meanwhile, the formal declaration of "liberation" from Gaddafi's rule is expected to be made on Sunday in the eastern city of Benghazi, where the revolt against Gaddafi’s regime started eight months ago.
