BEIRUT, Lebanon, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- The exiled heir of the Libyan monarchy, Prince Mohammed al-Hassan al-Sanoussi, called on Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi to step down.
Al-Sanoussi said in a message published Saturday in Beirut's daily al-Nahar, the Libyan regime "has reached unprecedented levels of erosion, weakness and isolation" and it would be better for Gadhafi to step down instead of being ousted by force by the Libyan people.
"It is common knowledge to all that the disastrous end of the deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, confused you (Gadhafi) and prompted you to confess your crimes against hundreds of innocent foreigners," al-Sanoussi said.
He was referring to Gadhafi's veiled acknowledgement of a role in the bombings of the Pan Am airliner over Lockerbie and the French UTA plane over Niger.
"After paying compensation to the victims of the bombed planes, what about paying for the Libyan victims whom you have assassinated and executed," the prince asked Gadhafi who ousted his grandfather King Idriss al-Sanoussi in a military coup in 1969.
