Libya: Widespread Torture in Detention
Government Should End Arbitrary Detentions, Ill-Treatment in Eastern Libya
(Benghazi) – Libya’s internationally recognized government and its allied forces are responsible for widespread arbitrary detentions and for torture and other ill-treatment in detention facilities that they control in Eastern Libya.
In January and April 2015, Human Rights Watch received rare access to visit detention facilities in al-Bayda and Benghazi controlled by the Libyan Army and the Justice and Interior Ministries, and interviewed 73 detainees individually without guards present. Many detainees said that interrogators had forced them under torture to “confess” to serious crimes. They described other abuses, including lack of due process, absence of medical care, denial of family visits, lack of notification of families about their detention, and poor conditions. The detainees included children under 18.
A security officer stands with his weapon on a road leading to a police station in Benghazi December 4, 2014.
© 2014 Reuters
