Anti-Qaddafi Fighters Are Accused of Torture

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

TRIPOLI, Libya — First there were the blindfold, the wrist-scarring handcuffs and the death threats. Then came beatings and electric shocks. In the fog of pain, the detainee, who said he had done nothing wrong, would have confessed to anything, he later recalled.

The techniques were familiar to Libyans, but the perpetrators were not: they were former rebels, according to the detainee, a 36-year-old man who said he had worked in military intelligence for the government of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi.

The man, who requested that his name not be published because he feared retribution from his former captors, said he was arrested by armed former rebels almost two weeks ago, held in a building for four days and tortured.

His story was impossible to immediately verify, but he displayed what he said was evidence of the torture: huge bruises and welts on his legs, stripes of black and blue across the back of his thighs, and scars on his feet and ankles that he said marked the spots where his captors attached electrical wires.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/01/world/africa/anti-qaddafi-fighters-are-accused-of-torture.html

[EFerrari]

1. (HRW) Libya: Cease Arbitrary Arrests, Abuse of Detainees

http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/09/30/libya-cease-arbitrary-arrests-abuse-detainees

[madokie]

4. And this was all brought on by none other than the former v president

dick cheney. He and rumsfeld are the perpetrators of this and both of them are in the later years of their expected lifetimes. The world will be a more dangerous place for years to come because of those two, so to me that makes both of them, w too for that matter for letting it happen on his watch, EVIL mo'fo's. I don't understand the love of money or power to the point that someone could make life rougher on everyone coming after them for the foreseeable future when they are simply going to die one day and for them its all over but for the ones left behind we'll have to deal with their creation for years to come. What could that lure be. I mean its not like we believe in the 72 virgins waiting for us in the afterlife so what could be the reason these people are so evil? I just don't get it.

[pampango]

2. HRW: “After all that Libyans suffered in Muammar Gaddafi’s jails, it’s disheartening that ...

some of the new authorities are subjecting detainees to arbitrary arrest and beatings today,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The NTC owes it to the people of Libya to show that they will institute the rule of law from the start.”

Libya: Cease Arbitrary Arrests, Abuse of Detainees

A key problem is the array of security forces operating in Tripoli and western Libya without effective oversight or experience, Human Rights Watch said. Some appear to have performed well, with one apparently issuing arrest warrants, but others have abused detainees and used unnecessary force at the time of arrest.

Mahmoud Jebril, the de facto prime minister and head of the NTC executive committee, told Human Rights Watch on September 23 that he and the NTC believed the detainee situation required urgent attention. “Prisoner abuse of any kind is not acceptable,” he said. “We joined the revolution to end such mistreatment, not to see it continue in any form.”

Recommendations

Libyan authorities face significant challenges in establishing a new justice system in the wake of war and four decades of dictatorship, and coping with a large influx of detainees into a barely functioning system, Human Rights Watch said. Still, the NTC can take immediate steps to address the problems, including:

-Issue strong and unambiguous orders to all military commanders and detention facility officials that physical or mental abuse at the time of arrest or during detention is strictly forbidden and will be punished appropriately, and that commanders will be held responsible;
-Expedite efforts to bring the many military councils, brigades, and local militias under a unified civilian command;
-Make clear who has the lawful authority to detain people, and treat detentions by anyone else as a crime;
-Establish a unit to investigate the criminal acts of torture and other abuse of detainees and unlawful detention;
-Direct all investigators, prosecutors, and judges who have returned to work to investigate the cases of detainees, and release all those who were detained without just cause;
-Ensure that all those detained receive a prompt judicial review;
-Place those accused of serious crimes, such as rape and killing, in the custody of a special unit to protect them from abuse by guards and other prisoners.

http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/09/30/libya-cease-arbitrary-arrests-abuse-detainee

[Turborama]

3. Hang on, I thought the NYT & HRW were thrown under the bus in April...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=4815494#4816392

:shrug:

[EFerrari]

5. HRW politicizes its mission right and left.

Are you now reversing yourself and saying, they are not credible?

[Mudoria]

6. I'd say they were credible, wouldn't you?

http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/07/14/venezuela-opposition-leader-convicted-criticizing-government

[EFerrari]

7. Vivanco was kicked out of Venezuela for screwing with their elections.

Which is far outside of his mission.

[Turborama]

9. Nope.

Just observing others' selective acceptance or rejection of HRW's & NYT's work.

[Distant Observer]

8. Funny, HRW themselves pointed out that the rebel accusations were likely propaganda. Now surprised

that they have and are committing the very atrocities the accused the dictatorship of???

Fools! You know by now you were sold a bill of goods.:rofl: