HRW: Widespread torture in prisons of internationally backed Libyan government

Torture and ill-treatment of prisoners is widespread in the prisons of Libya’s internationally recognised government and its allied forces, Human Rights Watch (HRW) revealed yesterday.

The organisation said that it visited the detention facilities in Al-Bayda and Benghazi, which are controlled by the Libyan Army and the Justice and Interior Ministries, and individually interviewed some 73 detainees without the presence of prison guards.

According to the report, HRW pointed out that many detainees had said that they were forced to confess to serious crimes.

They, including many under the age of 18, also reported other abuses in addition to a lack of due process, absence of medical care, denial of family visits, lack of notification of families about their detention and poor prison conditions.

“Of the 73 detainees interviewed, 35 said they were tortured or ill-treated at some point during their arrest and detention,” the HRW report said, “others were too intimidated to speak about their treatment.”

“One woman held in Al-Kweifiyah Prison said that female guards beat her and other women detainees on the soles of their feet as punishment.”

“Thirty-one detainees said that authorities had forced them to confess to crimes they did not commit, or continued to try to obtain a confession by torture,” the report revealed.

“Four said prison authorities had filmed and broadcasted their ‘confessions’ to killings and other crimes at the Criminal Investigation Department in Benghazi and at Bersis Prison.”

“Two said their homes were attacked and set on fire immediately after the broadcasts. All said they had no access to legal representation before or during the filming, and none had been seen by a judge or charged.”

HRW’s Middle East and North Africa Director Sarah Leah Whitson called on Libyan officials to stop the arbitrary detention and torture of detainees in prisons.

“Government ministers, military commanders, and prison directors should immediately declare a no-tolerance policy against torture and hold anyone who abuses detainees to account,” Whitson said.

“They should understand that they face a risk of international investigation and prosecution if they do not call a halt to torture by the forces under their command.”