Humanitarian groups alarmed at torture in Libya

Several detainees have died in Lybia over the last months after being subjected to torture and ill-treatment of suspected pro-Gaddafi fighters and loyalists, Amnesty International said on Thursday. The humanitarian group’s delegates in Libya met detainees held in and around Tripoli, Misrata and Gheryan, who showed visible marks of torture inflicted in recent days and weeks. The warning about human rights abuses becoming rampant in Libya already came from ‘Medicines Sans Frontieres’ on January 9, when the charity sent an official letter to the Misrata Military Council, the Misrata Security Committee, the National Army Security Service and the Misrata Local Civil Council demanding an immediate stop to any form of ill-treatment and torture. “No concrete action has been taken,” MSF General Director Christopher Stokes said. “Instead, our team received four new torture cases. We have therefore come to the decision to suspend our medical activities in the detention centres.” On the contrary, MSF stated that basic medical support is denied to the detainees who are often left dying after being tortured. The charity reported the most alarming case occurred on January 3, when MSF doctors treated a group of 14 detainees returning from an interrogation centre located outside the detention facilities. Despite previous MSF demands for the immediate end of torture, nine of the 14 detainees suffered numerous injuries and displayed obvious signs of torture. According to what Amnesty says, the detainees report having been suspended in contorted positions, beaten for hours with whips, cables, plastic hoses, metal chains and bars and wooden sticks, and given electric shocks with live wires and Taser-like electro-shock weapons. Concerns about the ability of the transitional government to avoid the use of violence against suspected Gaddafi loyalists arose also in the United Nation recently. Ian Martin, the UN envoy for Libya, said that the new Libyan authorities were failing to bring armed factions under control. As a result the law of gun dominated a country scarred by the dictatorship of deposed Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. UN human rights chief Navi Pillay also expressed "serious concern" over the fate of the 8,500 prisoners held in around 60 centres by revolutionary forces that were not accountable to a national government The perils facing Libyan prisoners were exposed by the MSF which said its doctors had treated 115 prisoners that they believed had been tortured in just one city. Miss Pillay also reviewed the investigations of the Human Rights Council's Commission of Inquiry which is investigating allegations of war crimes by the NATO-led alliance that backed the uprising against Gaddafi. The UN human rights chief finally said she believed that NATO planners had done their utmost to avoid killing civilians. Following the report, Amnesty International urged Libyan authorities to order the closure of all unofficial places of detention, to ensure that investigations were promptly carried out and that all detainees be allowed lawyers and medical examinations.