Military commanders in the Libyan city of Misrata said Saturday that no post-mortem would be carried out on Muammar Gaddafi 'sremains despite concerns over how the ousted strongman died.
''There will be no post-mortem today, nor any day,'' Misrata military council spokesman Fathi al-Bashaagha said.
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Bashaagha added that the new regime's military commander for the capital, Abdelhakim Belhaj, was expected to travel to Misrata later on Saturday to view the corpse of the man who ruled Libya with an iron fist for 42 years.
There were no immediate plans for National Transitional Council chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil to visit, he added.
Gaddafi's body has been stored in a freezer in a Misrata vegetable market since it was brought to the city on Thursday following his death – in still unexplained circumstances – during the fall of his hometown of Sirte.
Abdel Jalil, meanwhile, told reporters in Benghazi that Gaddafi's death was being investigated without any reference to a post-mortem examination.
Jalil said that an investigation was being conducted into the circumstances of Gaddafi's death following his capture, after several foreign governments and human rights watchdogs posed questions.
Celebrating in Tripoli (Photo: EPA)
On Thursday, Arab satellite TV stations aired a video clearly showing that Gaddafi was captured alive by revolutionary forces. The video showed a wounded Gaddafi with a blood-soaked shirt and bloodied face leaning up against the hood of a truck and restrained by fighters, who then push him toward another car. Gaddafi appeared enfeebled and struggling against those who were manhandling him.
Following the release of the footage, Amnesty International called on Libyan revolutionary fighters to make public the full facts of how Gaddafi died, saying all members of the former regime should be treated humanely.
The London-based rights group said that it was essential to conduct "a full, independent and impartial inquiry to establish the circumstances of Col. Gaddafi's death."
Meanwhile, Libyan PM Jibril announced he was likely to step down – perhaps as early as Saturday – a move he had planned to make once his government took full control of the country.
The government is expected to formally declare the country "liberated" on Sunday.
Jibril warned Libya's next government not to allow politics to influence the award of oil contracts, saying: "I can advise the coming interim government that the economic rule should be the rule. It's very dangerous to have contracts based on politics."
AFP and Reuters contributed to this report