By Adom M. Cooper
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TRIPOLI, Libya–Libya’s Transitional Council (NTC) is holding some 2,500 detainees in the capital of Tripoli. Many of these individuals have been beaten, subjected to other types of ill-treatment, and been denied access to lawyers or judicial proceedings.

Amnesty International, a London-based rights group, claimed that it had uncovered evidence of torture and ill-treatment of thousands of people detained in recent months.

Prisoners interviewed by the group’s researchers said they had been held for various durations, from a few days to a few months and that with rare exception, they had not been arrested under any kind of legal order.

In the report released on Thursday 13 October, Detention Abuses Staining the New Libya, Amnesty International reported that routinely involved beatings, particularly involving the use of wooden sticks or ropes on the feet. The human rights group conducted the report after interviewing some 300 prisoners.

The report included visiting eleven detention facilities in and around the capital of Tripoli and the cities of Zawiya and Misrara. The group made their visits to these cities between 18 August, just before Tripoli, and 21 September. At least two guards at two different detention facilities told Amnesty International researchers they beat detainees in order to elicit “confessions” more quickly.

Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, the group’s deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, shared these sentiments about the developing situation.

“There is a real risk that without firm and immediate action, some patterns of the past might be repeated. Arbitrary arrest and torture were a hallmark of Colonel Gaddafi’s rule. We understand that the transitional authorities are facing many challenges, but if they do not make a clear break with the past now, they will effectively be sending out a message that treating detainees like this is to be tolerated in the new Libya.”

Sub-Saharan Africans who were suspected of being Gaddafi’s mercenaries were particularly targeted, according to the report. The NTC pledged to look into these reports.

Jalal al-Galal, a spokesman for the NTC, told Reuters correspondents that the council leadership would look into the report.

“NTC Chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil has said time and time again that he will not tolerate abuse of prisoners and has made it abundantly clear that he will investigate any such allegations.”

There are unconfirmed reports that Colonel Gaddafi’s son Mutassim has been seized. NTC authorities have claimed that he had been captured in the family’s embattled home town of Sirte. Meanwhile, a military commander in the city has denied the claims, which have ignited celebratory gunfire in several cities. If these reports are confirmed, the capture of Gaddafi’s son would represent a major breakthrough for the NTC, according to BCC correspondent Caroline Hawley.

Mutassim is a senior officer in Gaddafi’s army and was also a national security advisor to his father.

Amnesty International has stated that black Libyans, particularly those from the Tawargha region, which happens to be a base for Gaddfi forces in their efforts to regain control of Misrata, are vulnerable to attacks and abuse. Dozens of Tawarghans have been taken from their homes, checkpoints, and even hospitals.

The United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have also expressed concern over the sweeping arrests of men accused by interim authorities of fighting for Gaddafi.

Al-Jazeera correspondent James Bays visited some police stations in Tripoli and shared these sentiments. Some of these stations were also visited by Amnesty International during their investigation.

“Many of them were from Sub-Saharan African countries who came here as workers and were then rounded up and accused of being mercenaries. It’s quite possible that some of those people were fighting for Gaddafi but having spoken to some of them myself, it was pretty clear that some of them were also innocent people, rounded up simply because of the color of their skin.”

Amnesty International’s Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui shared these sentiments after meeting with NTC officials. During these meetings, the NTC acknowledged concerns over arbitrary detention and promised to do more to ensure that all those detained enjoy equal protection of the law.

“The NTC has to act urgently to translate their public commitments into action, before such abuses become entrenched and stain the new Libya’s human rights record. These detainees have in many cases been arrested without a warrant, beaten and sometimes worse, on arrest and arrival in detention. They are vulnerable to abuse by armed militias who often act on their own initiative. The authorities cannot simply allow this to carry on because they are in a ‘transitional’ phrase. These people must be allowed to defined themselves properly or be released.”

One can only hope that the NTC will act soon enough to prevent more abuses. Gaddafi’s throne has been successfully taken from him but the practices delegated from that throne appear to remain. And as long as that appears to be the case, the NTC will have a difficult time in substantively distancing itself from Gaddafi.

For more information, please see: 

Al-Jazeera – Libya’s NTC Accused of Detainee Abuse – 13 October 2011

BBC – Amnesty Urges Libya to Tackle ‘Stain’ of Detainee Abuse – 13 October 2011

CNN – No Confirmation Yet of Gadhafi Son’s Arrest; New Report Details Detainee Abuse – 13 October 2011

NYT – Anti-Qaddafi Fighters Are Accused of Torture – 30 September 2011

The Guardian – UK Tells Libya to Form Interim Government After Taking Over Sirte – 13 October 2011

Human Rights Watch – Libya: Protect Civilians in Sirte Fighting  – 12 October 2011