TUNIS: Libya’s eastern-based forces have enabled a crackdown on dissidents and a spike in arbitrary detentions that has resulted in at least two deaths in custody in recent months, Amnesty International said Tuesday.
The energy-rich North African country has been wracked by unrest since the 2011 overthrow of Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising.
It is split between a UN-recognized government in the capital Tripoli and a rival administration in the east backed by military strongman Khalifa Haftar.
The eastern-based Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF) “has enabled the Internal Security Agency (ISA) to intensify its crackdown on critics and political opponents in recent months,” Amnesty said in a report.
The rights group said “dozens of people, including women and men in their 70s” have been subjected to “arbitrary detentions” since the start of the year, with some held “for months without being allowed to contact their families or lawyers.”
The report also mentioned “enforced disappearances for periods reaching 10 months” in some cases.
Kept at “ISA-controlled facilities,” none of those arrested have been “brought before civilian judicial authorities, allowed to challenge the legality of their detention, or were formally charged with any offenses,” Amnesty said.
At least “two people died in custody,” it added.
“The spike in arbitrary detentions and deaths in custody in recent months highlights how the existing culture of impunity has empowered armed groups to violate detainees’ right to life without fearing any consequences,” the report said.
“Deaths in custody add to the catalogue of horrors committed by the ISA against those who dare to express views critical of LAAF,” it added, calling the armed force “the de facto authorities in eastern and southern Libya.”
Amnesty urged the LAAF to “suspend from positions of power ISA commanders and members reasonably suspected of crimes under international law and serious human rights violations.”
The group called on authorities across Libya, including in the west, to “ensure the immediate release of all those arbitrarily detained solely for exercising their right to freedom of expression.”
