Rule of the gun:
Abductions, torture and other abuses in western Libya
Amnesty International,
2014
| “What
is happening in Libya at the moment goes far beyond human rights violations.
It is a quest for
revenge. People have stopped being human.” Media worker on attacks against the media |
Since the start of the conflict in western Libya on 13 July
2014 between the Libya Dawn [Fajr Libya] coalition of militias and their rivals
predominantly from the town of Zintan and area of Warshafana located southwest
of Tripoli, militias and armed groups on all sides have committed serious human
rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law (IHL, the laws
of war), some of which amount to war crimes.
Militias on all sides have carried out tit for tat abductions.
Many civilians, including civil society activists, lawyers, journalists and public
figures have been threatened, abducted and subjected to torture and other
ill-treatment solely on account of their origin, opinion or perceived political
affiliation. Those who were eventually released have gone into hiding or sought
refuge outside of Libya. Others are still looking desperately for ways to
leave. Amnesty International was able to interview 15 individuals following
their release. Their stories spoke of paralysing fear, humiliation and pain inflicted
by prolonged beatings with plastic tubes, metal bars and sticks or electric
shocks. Some refused to have their name or experience mentioned in this
briefing for fear of reprisals against them, their families, their homes or
other property. In some cases, abductions appear to be carried out in order to
secure a prisoner exchange. This amounts to hostage taking.
All parties have also captured and detained fighters, raising
concern for their safety and treatment. Amnesty International considers that all
detainees held by militias are at grave risk of torture and other ill-treatment and possibly summary killings.
The organization’s concerns are heightened by a prevailing pattern of
widespread human rights abuses perpetrated by these same militias with complete
impunity since the 2011 armed conflict. During this time, successive
governments have been unable to demobilize or disband these militias. Instead,
they have provided them with monthly salaries and at times mandated them with
carrying out various tasks such as providing security to strategic
installations or areas. Three years of failure by the Libyan authorities to
hold them accountable have emboldened militias and perpetuated their belief
that they are above the law. Militias have continued to carry out arbitrary
arrests, refused to hand over detainees into state custody, hindered the interim
government’s transitional justice efforts, obstructed the releases of many
individuals despite prosecution release orders, and perpetrated attacks against
internally displaced persons as well as acts of torture and other
ill-treatment.
Amnesty International calls on all parties to immediately
cease the abduction of civilians and not to treat anyone in their custody as
hostages. Anyone held solely on account of their political affiliation,
opinion, place of origin or ethnicity must be immediately and unconditionally
released. The organization further calls on all parties to treat captured fighters
humanely in accordance with international humanitarian law, ensure that their families
are notified of their whereabouts and are able to communicate with them, that
they receive adequate medical care and are protected from torture and other
ill-treatment. In particular, commanders must make it clear that torture and
other ill-treatment will not be tolerated, and remove from their ranks any
individuals suspected of having ordered, committed or acquiesced to such acts.
A failure to do so may result in commanders being held accountable for acts
committed by their subordinates.
When perpetrated during an armed conflict, torture and cruel
treatment constitute war crimes, as does hostage-taking or the destruction or
seizure of the property of an adversary – unless such destruction or seizure is
imperatively demanded by the necessities of the conflict.8
The International Criminal Court (ICC) can still exercise its
jurisdiction over war crimes and crimes against humanity perpetrated in Libya
since 15 February 2011 as per United Nations Security Council Resolution 1970.
In light of the wide-spread abuses continuing to take place in Libya, Amnesty
International welcomes the ICC Prosecutor's statement of 25 July 2014, in which
Fatou Bensouda warned that her office “will not hesitate to investigate and prosecute
those who commit crimes under the Court’s jurisdiction in Libya irrespective of
their official status or affiliation”. 9 The organization also notes that the
UN Security Council, in its Resolution 2174 of 2014, has reaffirmed that it
will take punitive measures against individuals responsible for “planning,
directing, or committing, acts that violate applicable international human
rights law or international humanitarian law, or acts that constitute human
rights abuses, in Libya”.10
| Parties to the conflict in western Libya and
International Humanitarian Law The Libya
Dawn coalition is made up of militias and armed groups from Misratah, Tripoli,
Zawiya, Sabratha, Zuwara, Khoms, and several towns in the Nafusa Mountains,
including Nalut, Jadu, Gharyan, Kikla and Qalaa. Libya Dawn’s main fighting
forces include Libya Shield for the Western Region, Libya Shield for the
Central Region, Misratah militias, Gharyan Shield and Tripoli-based militias
such as Fursan Janzur Brigade, the Libya Revolutionaries Operation Room,
militias from the Abu Salim district including the Joint Security Room (Axis11),
the Nawasi Brigade and militias from the Mitiga airbase. Some of the militias
affiliated with Libya Dawn are considered to be Islamist-leaning. The
Zintan-Warshafana coalition is mainly made-up of Zintan militias such as the
Qaaqaa, Sawaiq, alMadani and Barq al-Nasser brigades, which have been accused
of having integrated former al-Gaddafi officers; the Warshafana Brigade
formed at the beginning of August 2014 and several small armed groups formed
by members of the Warshafana community, reportedly as a response to the
indiscriminate shelling of the area. For the last three years, some of these
groups have engaged in criminal activities such as carjacking and theft, and
are made up of perceived al-Gaddafi loyalists, but do not necessarily
represent the position of the tribe. The Zintan-Warshafana coalition is
allied with Operation Dignity, the
military campaign launched by retired General Khalifa Haftar in mid-May in
Benghazi against Islamist militias and armed groups under the umbrella of the
Shura Council of Benghazi Revolutionaries. These
groups are currently engaged in a non-international armed conflict in western
Libya and are bound by rules of customary international humanitarian law and
Article 3 common to the 1949 Geneva Conventions. These rules and principles
seek to protect anyone who is not actively participating in hostilities:
notably civilians and anyone, including those who were previously
participating in hostilities, who is wounded or surrenders or is otherwise
captured. The deliberate and summary killing of people in captivity – be they
civilians or suspected members of armed groups or militias – is prohibited
and constitutes a war crime. Torture
and cruel treatment and hostage taking are prohibited and also constitute war
crimes. IHL also limits the means and methods of conducting military operations.
The principle of distinction requires that
parties to the conflict “distinguish between civilians and combatants” and
between “civilian objects” and “military objectives” and direct attacks only
at military targets. Indiscriminate attacks, which are of a nature to strike
military objectives and civilians or civilian objects without distinction,
are prohibited. The principle of proportionality prohibits attacks, which
“may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to
civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would
be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage
anticipated”. IHL also sets out the necessary precautions that should be
taken to avoid carrying out indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks.
Making civilians the object of attack, intentionally launching an indiscriminate
attack resulting in death or injury to civilians and launching a
disproportionate attack constitute war crimes. |
Excerpts from ‘Rule of the gun: Abductions, torture and other
militia abuses in western Libya’
AI index: MDE 19/009/2014
You can download the whole report at the link below:
http://bit.ly/10AETJt