It was the second time the Libyan leader — who travels with female bodyguards and fancies himself a self-styled feminist — had staged such an event for Italian women, who were recruited by a modeling agency and paid an undisclosed sum to attend.
Michela, who asked that her last name not be used, said that three of the participants converted to Islam on the spot.
“It was a really beautiful meeting and went very well,” she said. “He is very easygoing and he gave us a copy of the Qur’an. Three girls converted themselves to Islam during the ceremony. It was a beautiful event.”
Other participants, though, identifying themselves as Roman Catholics in this overwhelmingly Catholic country, said Qaddafi had urged others to convert and had dismissed Christianity as unimportant.
Between 200 and 500 young women attended, arriving 10 buses at the Libyan ambassador's residence just as Qaddafi's plane was landing at Rome's Ciampino airport at the start of a two-day visit.
The visit, amid steadily improving business ties between Libya and its former colonial ruler, also marks the second anniversary of a friendship treaty in which Italy agreed to pay Libya $5 billion as compensation for its 30-year occupation, which ended in 1943.
When Qaddafi was in Italy in November for a UN food summit, he hosted 200 young Italian women who had been recruited and paid €50 (about $75) by the same modeling agency to attend. Then, too, he gave a lecture on Islam and handed out copies of the Qur’an.
This time around, the women wouldn't say how much they had been paid, only that they had received a small “reimbursement.”