Articles for Libya

Alkarama seized the Special Rapporteur on Torture and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention of the case of Mr. Rifat Al Khwildy, a victim of arbitrary detention and torture for nine months.

A 27-year-old journalist, Mr. Al Khwildy participated in the Revolutionary Movement of 17 February 2011. Having learned that his name appeared on a list of people that were opposed to the revolution and that he was now the object of an investigation, he turned himself into the Military Council in Tripoli on 4 September 2011.

Abdulhakim Kalhood, a 51 year-old Libyan, was arrested in the evening of 16 October 2011 at his home in Al-Garabulli, 60 km east of Tripoli by the local Katiba. Nine days later, he died after having being detained and severely beaten by his abductors. Alkarama has received several cases of people dead as a result of torture at the hands of Libyan Katibas during the Libyan civil war.
28 June 2011, 3:30 a.m. Salem Mohamed's home in the Abu Slim district of Tripoli is quiet when suddenly twenty security agents violently break down the front door. They are all heavily armed, some are wearing hoods others are in civilian clothing. The 31-year-old academic, father to two children, is immediately handcuffed and taken by force in a military car to an unknown destination.
Seven people arrested by soldiers of the Libya army were summarily executed 28 May 2011 at Bani Walid. These victims are identified as Libyan civilians who were fleeing Libya and taking refuge in a collective home of Egyptian workers who were also executed during the incident. The exact number and identities of all of the victims remains unknown.

The Libyan Truth and Justice Committee, a group on the ground with which Alkarama has regularly collaborated, brought this information to our attention.

On 4 April 2011, Alkarama sent the UN special procedures the cases of seven medical-practioners kidnapped in Libya by pro-Kaddafi forces during March 2011. The doctors and nurses were providing medical assistance and humanitarian aid in war-torn Libya.

The details of those arrested and kidnapped are as follows:

Suhil Sami Al-Atrach, is a 32-year-old Libyan anesthetist at Al Jae Hospital in Benghazi. He was kidnapped on 6 March 2011 by pro-Kaddafi forces at Ras Lanuf Hospital.

Three Al Jazeera journalists were abducted by armed pro-Gaddafi forces on 8 March 2011 in Az-Zintan, 160km southwest of Tripoli, while trying to cross the border into Tunisia. Alkarama fears they are at high risk of torture given the way other international and national journalists have been treated by pro-Gaddafi forces.

Forces loyal to Col. Gaddaffi's are carrying out attacks on hospital patients in Gadaffi-controlled areas, sources say. Injured rebel forces and innocent civilians are being kidnapped from hospitals, risking torture, even death.

As a consequence, the wounded are refusing to seek medical assistance for fear of being kidnapped or killed.

News agencies have confirmed that forces loyal to Col. Gaddafi killed Ali Hassan Al-Jaber, an Aljazeera cameraman. His life was taken in an ambush yesterday in the Hawwari area southwest of Benghazi. Alkarama will bring his case before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in due course.

Alkarama has already provided the ICC with evidence documenting crimes against humanity committed by the Gaddafi regime during the past weeks.

Ghaith Abdul Ahad, a correspondent of the British newspaper the Guardian and Andrei Netto of the Brazilian newspaper O Estado de Sao Paulo were arrested on Monday 7 March 2011 near Sabratah, a town on the Libyan coast. Three other journalists from the BBC, arrested on the same day, were tortured for 21 hours by Gadaffi's security forces, before being released.

Recent video footage from Libya shows evidence that Colonel Gaddafi's regime is using deadly force against Libyan citizens. According to accounts, violent measures were used against citizens prior to the recent popular uprising.