After Gaddafi, Libya’s systematic torture continues unabated

Detainees in the Libyan city of Misrata are being tortured and denied urgent medical care, leading the international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to suspend its operations in detention centres in Misrata, MSF announced today.

Several detainees have died after being subjected to torture in Libya in recent weeks and months amid widespread torture and ill-treatment of suspected pro-al-Gaddafi fighters and loyalists, the international human rights organisation Amnesty International also said,

Amnesty delegates in Libya met detainees being held in and around Tripoli, Misrarah and Gheryan, who showed visible marks indicating torture inflicted in recent days and weeks. Their injuries included open wounds on the head, limbs, back and other parts of the body.

Detainees, both Libyan and foreign nationals from sub-Saharan African countries, told Amnesty International they had been suspended in contorted positions, beaten for hours with whips, cables, plastic hoses, metal chains and bars and wooden sticks, and given electric shocks with live wires and Taser-like electro-shock weapons.

The patterns of injury observed by the organization were consistent with their testimonies. Medical reports seen by Amnesty International also confirmed the use of torture on several detainees, a number of whom died in custody.

The majority of detainees being targeted are Libyans believed to have stayed loyal to Colonel al-Gaddafi during the recent conflict. Foreign nationals, mostly sub-Saharan Africans, also continue to be randomly detained, including in connection with their irregular legal status, and some are tortured.

The torture is being carried out by officially recognised military and security entities as well by a multitude of armed militias operating outside any legal framework.

"After all the promises to get detention centres under control, it is horrifying to find that there has been no progress to stop the use of torture," said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International's Senior Crisis Response Adviser, from Libya.

Since August, 2011, MSF treated 115 people who had torture-related wounds. "Some officials have sought to exploit and obstruct MSF's medical work," said MSF General Director Christopher Stokes.

"Patients were brought to us in the middle of interrogation for medical care, in order to make them fit for further interrogation. This is unacceptable. Our role is to provide medical care to war casualties and sick detainees, not to repeatedly treat the same patients between torture sessions."

The most alarming case occurred on January 3, when MSF doctors treated a group of 14 detainees returning from an interrogation centre located outside the detention facilities. Despite previous MSF demands for the immediate end of torture, nine of the 14 detainees suffered numerous injuries and displayed obvious signs of torture.

The MSF team informed the National Army Security Service, but no concrete action has been taken. "Instead, our team received four new torture cases. We have therefore come to the decision to suspend our medical activities in the detention centres," Stokes said.

"We are not aware of any proper investigations into cases of torture, and neither the survivors or relatives of those who have died in detention have had any recourse to justice or redress for what they have suffered," said Donatella Rovera of Amnesty International.

"While many detainees have described their experiences of torture to us, some have proved too scared to speak - fearing harsher torture if they speak out - and just showed us their wounds."

Several told Amnesty International they had confessed to crimes they had not committed just to end the torture.

Despite repeated requests by Amnesty International since May 2011, the organization said that the Libyan transitional authorities - both at the national and local level - have failed to conduct effective investigations into cases of torture and suspicious deaths in custody.

"So far there has been a complete failure on the part of those in power to take concrete steps to end torture and other ill-treatment of detainees and to hold accountable those responsible for such crimes", said Donatella Rovera.

"We don't underestimate the challenges faced by the Libyan transitional authorities in establishing control over the multitude of armed militias operating throughout the country, but we must see them taking decisive action on torture. In the interests of building a new Libya based on respect for human rights, this issue cannot be left at the bottom of the pile."