Skip to main content
,

Report: Human Rights Violations in Libya during June 2024

Introduction: The Monitoring and Documentation Department of the Libya Crimes Watch (LCW) continued to monitor the human rights situation…
| ,
a group of people in military uniforms standing in front of a truck
An archive photo from the Internet of an armed group in eastern Libya

Introduction:

The Monitoring and Documentation Department of the Libya Crimes Watch (LCW) continued to monitor the human rights situation and document violations and international crimes committed against civilians Through field investigations, the monitoring team recorded (11) arbitrary arrests during the month, distributed between the cities of Al-Bayda and Tripoli. The team also documented an extrajudicial killing in Al-Bayda and the recovery of three bodies of migrants from the shores of Tobruk and Sabratha. Additionally, the team monitored the injury of a child and a migrant due to armed clashes in Zuwarah, and the injury of two migrants due to landmines south of Tripoli.

As always, we emphasize that these figures do not necessarily reflect the total number of violations, but rather represent only the violations that have been monitored and verified by the ground monitoring team.

Details:

June 1st:

the LCW monitored the arrest of five (5) members of the Social Council of Souq Al-Jum’aa and Al-Nawahi Al-Arbaa by the Internal Security Agency (ISA) in Tripoli. This occurred after a general meeting of the Supreme Reconciliation Council in Tripoli. They were arbitrarily detained for two days without legal procedures until their release through social mediations on June 3.

June 3rd:

The LCW monitored the death of Ashraf Hamad Omar Al-Masmari 34 years old, under mysterious circumstances at the Internal Security Agency (ISA) Prison in Benghazi. This occurred one day after his arrest on June 3, following his participation in football-related protests in Al-Bayda city.

Al-Masmari was arrested by armed individuals in civilian clothes in Al-Bayda city, after which contact with him was lost. His family received a call from officials of the ISA informing them of his death without specifying the reasons.

On the same date, the ISA and the General Directors of Criminal Investigation launched a series of arrests targeting at least five men who participated in protests on May 27 in Al-Bayda. These protests led to violence resulting in the cancellation of a football match in Benghazi. Two of those arrested were released on June 6 without any legal proceedings being taken.

June 5th:

The LCW monitored the arrest of Salama Rajab Al-Barassi after his car was intercepted near his workplace in Al-Bayda by the General Administration of Criminal Investigation. He was taken to a prison in Benghazi and remained forcibly detained for 10 days before being released without any formal charges or referral to the judiciary.

June 13th:

The LCW monitored the injury of two migrants with moderate wounds due to the explosion of a landmine left over from the war while they were working on a farm in the Al-Khuhili area in the Ain Zara municipality, on the outskirts of Tripoli. The Emergency and Ambulance Service transported them to the hospital for necessary treatment.

June 18th:

The LCW monitored the discovery of two bodies believed to belong to migrants on a beach near the city of Sabratha. The bodies were retrieved by the Sabratha Red Crescent and taken to the hospital for procedures by local authorities.

June 25th:

The LCW monitored the discovery of a body near the beach in the Ain Gazala area east of the city of Tobruk, believed to belong to a migrant. The body was retrieved by the Tobruk Red Crescent and referred to the medical centre for necessary procedures by local authorities.

June 26th:

The LCW monitored the injury of an 11-year-old girl by a shrapnel bullet that penetrated her home in Zuwarah due to clashes in the city’s outskirts between the Zuwarah Military Operations Room and the 55th Infantry Battalion of the General Staff of the Government of National Unity. A migrant worker was also moderately injured by a stray bullet due to the same clashes.

The LCW monitored the injury of three children with serious wounds due to the explosion of a landmine left from the war in their home’s yard in the Airport Road area south of Tripoli. One of the children sustained head injuries from shrapnel, and his condition remains critical.

June 29th:

The LCW monitored the discovery of an unidentified body in the forests on the outskirts of Surman city, west of Tripoli, bearing signs of torture. The body was transported by local authorities to Surman Hospital for identification and determination of the cause of death.

Recommendations:

  • The Libya Crimes Watch strongly condemns the continued campaigns of arbitrary detention and abduction, holds the authorities in the east and west fully responsible for the safety and lives of detainees, and demands the immediate and unconditional release of all arbitrarily detained persons.
  • The LCW calls on the Government of National Unity, the Libyan Presidential Council, and the authorities in eastern Libya, including the House of Representatives and the General Command of the Libyan Arab Armed Forces, to stop campaigns of arbitrary detention, abduction, and arbitrary arrest, and to respect their international obligations to ensure freedom of opinion and expression.
  • The LCW urges the Libyan Attorney General to conduct a fair and transparent investigation into the death of Ashraf Al-Masmari and the circumstances of his arrest, the campaigns of arbitrary detention in eastern and western Libya, and the clashes that took place in the city of Zuwarah, to identify those responsible for endangering civilian lives and hold them accountable according to the law.
  • The LCW calls on the Government of National Unity and the Libyan Presidential Council to take immediate measures to prevent the recurrence of such violations and to fulfill their responsibilities to protect civilians and civilian facilities throughout Libya, in accordance with international law.
  • The LCW renews its call for the Libyan judicial authorities to conduct independent and transparent investigations to identify those responsible for planting landmines and hold them accountable, and calls on the relevant authorities to intensify their efforts to remove landmines and war remnants in populated areas.
  • The LCW reiterates its call for the Libyan government to take responsibility for saving the lives of migrants along migration routes and at sea, to activate effective search and rescue mechanisms to reduce the loss of life, and to find and identify the missing.
  • The LCW urges the United Nations Support Mission in Libya to pressure all parties in Libya to respect human rights and international humanitarian law, to work towards comprehensive national reconciliation, and to end the state of impunity.
  • The LCW calls on the United Nations Human Rights Council to establish an independent international mechanism to investigate violations and international crimes committed in Libya and to identify those responsible to hold them accountable, as a substitute for the fact-finding mission whose mandate ended in March 2023.
  • The LCW urges the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to continue investigations into crimes committed in Libya and not to stop them at the end of 2025, to ensure that perpetrators do not escape justice.