INTRODUCTION
Throughout August, grave violations against civilians in Libya continued to be perpetrated by security agencies and armed groups affiliated with authorities in both eastern and western Libya. These violations included extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, and assaults on the electoral process, amid a persistent absence of serious or effective measures by the authorities in both regions to investigate or ensure accountability.
The LCW field team documented during the month the arbitrary detention of five (5) civilians, including a blogger and four government employees, in the cities of Sirte and Sabha. The team also documented the killing of two (2) civilians, one of them a child, as a result of shootings in Kufra and Gharyan, and the injury of nineteen (19) civilians in separate incidents, including the explosion of an ammunition depot in Misrata and injuries caused by random gunfire in Zliten.
Additionally, the field team recorded the discovery of three (3) unidentified bodies believed to be migrants, found on the shores of Tobruk and Sabratha following separate shipwrecks of boats carrying migrants en route to Europe. One (1) additional body was found on a desert smuggling route near Ajdabiya, underscoring the continued failure of authorities to adopt necessary measures to safeguard migrants.
The team also documented systematic security interventions during August that obstructed the municipal electoral process in eastern, southern, and western Libya. Elections were arbitrarily cancelled in thirteen (13) municipalities in eastern and central Libya. At the same time, an armed attack targeted warehouses of the High National Election Commission (HNEC) in Zawiya, directly impacting municipal elections in four (4) municipalities.
Libya Crimes Watch (“LCW ”) holds fully accountable the following entities for the violations mentioned: both of the Internal Security Agencies (ISA) affiliated with both the Libyan Presidential Council and the Libyan government accredited by the House of Representatives (HoR); the Kufra Security Directorate under the Ministry of Interior of that government; the 444th Brigade under the Ministry of Defence of the Government of National Unity (GNU); as well as the As well as the armed groups responsible for the ammunition depot known as “Al-Daw” in Misrata, aligned with the GNU. These actors bear direct or indirect responsibility for committing these violations, or for their failure to prevent them and ensure accountability of perpetrators.
LCW affirms that the violations documented in this report may not fully reflect the entirety of those committed during the reporting period. The report is confined to cases that the LCW field team was able to document and verify, based on informed consent provided by the victims or their families. Publication has been limited to violations whose disclosure does not compromise confidentiality or pose risks to victims, survivors, or their relatives.
DETAILS
August 7
On 7 August, Libya Crimes Watch (LCW) documented the arbitrary arrest of blogger Mohamed Faraj Sultan al-Gaddafi (30 years old), following a raid on his home in Sabha by members of the ISA branch in the city, affiliated with the government accredited by the HoR. His personal belongings were confiscated, and he was taken to an undisclosed location. Communication with him was cut off, and he remains forcibly disappeared as of the issuance of this report.
August 9
On 9 August, LCW recorded the discovery of one (1) decomposed, unidentified body on the seashore near al-Qarah, east of Tobruk, believed to be that of a migrant. The body was retrieved by the Tobruk branch of the General Directorate for Coastal Security and transferred to Derna Medical Centre to complete the legal procedures.
August 12
On 12 August, LCW monitored the injury of two civilians, Jibril Abdulsalam Dahioura and his wife, by shrapnel after a shell struck their home in the Kadoush neighbourhood of Zliten. The attack was carried out by unidentified armed assailants near their residence and targeted the Zliten Electoral Office of the HNEC.
In the same context, LCW also monitored an armed attack by unidentified armed assailants on the Electoral Office building in Zliten, involving gunfire and shelling, just five days before the scheduled municipal council elections. The attack caused material damage to the building. As of the date of this report, the authorities in western Libya had not announced any measures in response to the incident.
August 12
On 13 August, LCW documented the arbitrary detention of four (4) members of the Harawa Municipal Council, east of Sirte, by personnel of the ISA branch in the city, affiliated with the government accredited by the HoR. The detention was reportedly linked to their communication with the GNU and their contravention of directives issued by the said government. They were released later the same day.
Their detention followed a series of ongoing restrictions and harassment by the ISA since their election as part of the first group in the municipal council elections of November 2024. This included obstruction of their duties and preventing them from accessing the council premises, in connection with the fact that they had taken their oath of office before the Minister of Local Government of the GNU.
August 14
On 14 August, LCW documented the killing of Sami Abdulkareem al-Harari (10 years old) and the injury of his uncle, Ali Salem al-Harari, who sustained a gunshot wound to the abdomen. Their vehicle was fired upon at a security checkpoint near the Jandouba bridge, between al-Asabi’a and Gharyan, by armed personnel affiliated with the 444th Brigade under the Ministry of Defence of the GNU. The incident occurred while they were on their way to report a burglary at their family home.
August 15
On 15 August, LCW documented the cancellation of elections in thirteen (13) municipalities across eastern and central Libya, following verbal instructions issued by the ISA affiliated with the government accredited by the HoR, and directed to electoral officials.
These measures formed part of a broader and systematic pattern of security interference that obstructed the electoral process. In July, the same security agencies had prevented the distribution of voter cards in ten electoral districts in eastern and southern Libya. This resulted in the suspension of elections in twenty-six (26) municipalities within areas under the influence of the government endorsed by the Parliament.
On the same date, 15 August, LCW also monitored an armed attack by unidentified assailants, who set fire to warehouses belonging to the HNEC in the city of Zawiya.
The attack destroyed electoral materials and led to the postponement of elections in the municipalities of Zawiya, Sabratha, Surman, and Bir al-Ghanam. As of the issuance of this report, neither the Government of National Unity nor the Office of the Libyan Attorney General had announced the opening of any investigation into the incident.
August 25
On 25 August, LCW recorded the discovery of one (1) decomposed, unidentified body on the seashore near the Mellitah Oil and Gas Complex in the city of Sabratha, believed to be that of a migrant. The body was retrieved by the Libyan Red Crescent, Sabratha branch, and transferred to Sabratha Teaching Hospital to complete legal procedures.
On the same date, 25 August, LCW also recorded the discovery of one (1) body belonging to a Sudanese migrant on a desert smuggling route in the Antlat al-Baydan area, east of Ajdabiya. The body was retrieved by the Libyan Red Crescent, Ajdabiya branch, in coordination with the Antlat al-Baydan Police Station, and transferred to the hospital to complete legal procedures.
August 28
On 28 August, LCW documented the killing of Yassin Ibrahim Mousa al-Tubawi (24 years old) at a hospital in Benghazi due to injuries sustained eleven days earlier, when his vehicle was fired upon in the city of Kufra on 18 August by armed personnel affiliated with the Kufra Security Directorate under the Ministry of Interior of the government accredited by the HoR.
August 30
On 30 August, LCW recorded the discovery of one (1) decomposed, unidentified body on the seashore in the Bab al-Zaytoun area of Tobruk. The body was retrieved by the Libyan Red Crescent, Tobruk branch, and Al-‘Abereen Foundation for Migrant Assistance and Humanitarian Services, in coordination with the General Directorate for Coastal Security, Tobruk. It was then transferred to Tobruk Medical Centre to complete legal procedures.
August 31
On 31 August, the LCW monitored the injury of sixteen (16) civilians, sustaining minor to moderate wounds, as a result of shrapnel and projectiles striking several homes and civilian buildings in the city. The incident followed the explosion of an ammunition and weapons depot in the Sikrat residential neighbourhood of Misrata, following the explosion of the ammunition and weapons depot known as “Al-Daw”, located within the neighbourhood and controlled by armed groups aligned with the GNU, which also caused material damage in the surrounding area.
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Libya Crimes Watch (LCW) calls on the authorities in eastern and western Libya to halt all military operations and to end armed presence within residential areas or near civilian facilities. LCW also urges the Libyan Attorney General to initiate independent and transparent investigations into incidents resulting from indiscriminate gunfire or explosions of ammunition depots in populated areas, and to ensure accountability of those responsible in accordance with international standards.
- LCW also calls on the Libyan Attorney to open an immediate and independent investigation into the obstruction of the electoral process, including security interventions and attacks on electoral offices, identifying those responsible and ensuring their accountability. LCW further urges the authorities in eastern and western Libya to refrain from interfering in the work of the High National Election Commission (HNEC), to respect its independence, to ensure the protection of its staff and premises, to enable it to carry out its duties safely, and to guarantee respect for the right to political participation as enshrined under international human rights law.
- LCW calls on the authorities in eastern and western Libya to respect fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed under international human rights law, including the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and freedom of peaceful assembly. LCW further urges an immediate cessation of arbitrary arrests and the systematic targeting of civilians, particularly activists and peaceful opponents, as such practices constitute serious violations of fundamental rights, foster a climate of fear, and perpetuate a culture of impunity.
- LCW calls on the Libyan Attorney General to initiate independent and transparent investigations into all serious human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, unlawful killings, arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, abductions, and torture in official and unofficial detention facilities, and to ensure accountability of those responsible in accordance with international fair trial standards.
- LCW reiterates its call on the authorities in Libya to assume responsibility for protecting the lives of migrants along desert and maritime migration routes, and to cooperate with relevant international organisations to establish effective search and rescue mechanisms, determine the fate of the missing, and ensure identification of human remains. LCW also calls for independent and transparent investigations into incidents of drowning and violations related to human trafficking, ensuring that those involved are held accountable in line with international standards of accountability.
- LCW calls on the Libyan Attorney General to initiate independent and transparent investigations into all cases of serious human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention, and torture within both official and unofficial detention facilities. The authorities must ensure that those responsible for these violations are held accountable in accordance with international standards for fair trials.
- LCW appeals to the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to reconsider its decision to suspend investigations in Libya by the end of 2025, given the potential consequences of entrenching impunity in the context of the absence of political will, capacity, and effectiveness of national judicial mechanisms, and their failure to fulfil obligations, as well as to uphold the principle of complementarity set out in the Rome Statute.
- LCW calls on the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and influential states to intensify pressure on all parties to respect human rights, work earnestly towards transitional justice, uncover the truth, provide redress to victims, and end the culture of impunity that perpetuates ongoing violations.
