Libya veering off course in building state that respects human rights

The international human rights organisation Human Rights Watch has warned that Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) avowal to build a new state that would respect human rights, seems to be veering off course.

HRW's director of Middle East and North Africa affairs Sarah Lea Whitson said the NTC was not only rejecting international human rights monitoring and the International Criminal Court's jurisdiction, but had also passed new laws "mimicking Gaddafi laws criminalising political dissent and granting blanket immunity to any crimes committed in 'support' of the revolution."

While the NTC is still trying to assert authority over militias who are holding about 5,000 of the country's roughly 8,000 detainees, Human Rights Watch says some detainees have been in prison now for over 12 months, outside Libyan law without any charge or judicial process. Numerous cases of torture and even deaths in custody have been documented.

But a report by the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Libya - which described these abuses as "serious violations, including war crimes" - was rejected by the NTC, specifically the proposed language in a resolution urging the government to address the abuses the commission documented.

Sarah Leah Whitson writes: "The United States and several European Union states vetoed these proposals as well, eager to prove the Libya military intervention a success, and effectively turned a blind eye to the country's current serious human rights problems.

"The Friends of Libya relied on the international Responsibility to Protect to justify intervening in Gaddafi's crimes against humanity, but now ignore it when those committing the crimes are the militias they supported last year."

The Libyan government has yet to hand over Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam and appealed a recent decision by the ICC judges asking Libya to surrender him. Instead it seeks to persuade the ICC that, although a Zintan militia has held Saif al-Islam without judicial review since his capture in November 2011, the NTC will give him a fair trial.

It has also insisted that Mauritania hand over the captured former head of secret services Abdullah Sanussi for trial in Libya.

Almost a year ago, the NTC passed a "constitutional covenant" pledging to respect human rights treaties, freedom of expression, and political pluralism.

"But it has proceeded to pass laws that have no appreciation for what these ideas actually mean," Whitson said. "In a crude cut-and-paste of Gaddafi's penal code, this month the NTC passed Law 37, criminalising 'insults against the people of Libya or its institutions' and criticism of the 2011 revolution or glorification of its deposed leader."

"Article 195 of the Gaddafi code in turn criminalized criticizing his 1969 revolution. In a similar vein, the NTC's regulations ban any candidate who may have opposed the recent revolution or 'glorified' Gaddafi."

The NTC has also delivered Law 38, granting blanket immunity for criminals, if they committed crimes for the good of the revolution, and barring suits against them.

"Effectively, this means that there will never be any investigation or prosecution of militia members who apparently executed dozens of detained pro-Gaddafi forces and supporters, and drove out entire communities perceived as loyal to him. These are hardly reassuring developments for the rule of law in the new Libya," Whitson said.

"It is exactly things like human rights monitoring and pressure to respect international legal obligations that will help Libya's transition. Giving Libya a pass during the transition is a recipe for more problems down the road."