Libya: Amnesty calls for end to impunity for Haftar’s forces

Amnesty International has condemned the ongoing impunity for deaths in custody and severe human rights abuses committed by armed groups under Khalifa Haftar’s command.
In a report released on September 11, the organization highlighted how this impunity has enabled Haftar’s Internal Security Agency to escalate its repression of critics and political opponents, targeting politicians, activists, poets, and bloggers.
Since January, heavily armed agents of the Internal Security Agency have detained dozens of individuals, including elderly men and women, from their homes, neighborhoods, or public places in eastern and southern Libya, regions under Haftar’s control. Some detainees have faced enforced disappearances lasting up to ten months without being brought before civilian courts, challenged on the legality of their detention, or formally charged.
The report also notes that in April and July, two detainees died under suspicious circumstances in facilities controlled by the Internal Security Agency in Benghazi and Ajdabiya. Amnesty International criticized the lack of independent and impartial investigations into these deaths and the failure to hold anyone accountable.
These deaths are part of a broader pattern of abuses by the Internal Security Agency against those who criticize the “Libyan Arab Armed Forces,” according to Amnesty’s findings.