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UN calls for immediate probe into ‘torture footage’ in east Libya prison

January 16, 2025 at 1:20 pm

Two Libyan flags at Martyrs square in Tripoli, Libya [Getty]

The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) has called for an “immediate investigation” into reports of “brutal torture and ill-treatment” of detainees at the Gernada detention facility in eastern Libya.

UNSMIL said in a statement on Tuesday that it was “alarmed by the disturbing footage circulating on social media, which shows brutal torture and ill-treatment of detainees at the Gernada detention facility in eastern Libya.”

“As UNSMIL continues to verify the circumstances of the circulated footage, it strongly condemns these acts that constitute serious violations of international human rights law,” it said.

The UN mission said the footage was consistent with “documented patterns of human rights violations in detention facilities across Libya,” and called for an immediate investigation into the accusations.

UNSMIL added that it is coordinating with the General Command of Libyan National Army for “unrestricted access to UNSMIL’s human rights officers and other independent monitors to the Gernada facility as well as other detention centres under their control.”

UNSMIL urged authorities to launch “an immediate and transparent investigation” into the alleged abuse of inmates.

The Gernada prison, the largest in eastern Libya, is widely known to hold critics of the authorities in the region which is run by forces loyal to renegade General Khalifa Haftar.

No comment has been issued by the security and military authorities on the issue.

Videos went viral on social media in recent days showed acts of torture against both Libyan and foreign nationals. Former detainees also reported enduring extreme torture and ill treatment inside the prison.

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