Human rights in Libya
[4] The Great Manmade River was also built to allow free access to fresh water across large parts of the country.
Gaddafi also publicly bragged about sending hit squads to assassinate exiled dissidents, and Libyan state media openly announced bounties on the heads of political opponents.
[10] In January 2011, the United Nations Human Rights Council published a report analysing the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya's human rights record with input from member nations, most of which (including many European and most Asian, African and South American nations) generally praised the country's progressive efforts in human rights, though some (particularly Australia, France, Israel, Switzerland, and the United States) raised concerns about human rights abuses concerning cases of disappearance and torture, and restrictions on free press and free association; Libya agreed to investigate cases involving disappearance and torture, and to repeal any laws criminalizing political expression or restricting a free independent press, and affirmed that it had an independent judiciary.
"[17] That same year, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya issued the Great Green Document on Human Rights, in which Article 5 established laws that allowed greater freedom of expression.
Article 8 of The Code on the Promotion of Freedom stated that "each citizen has the right to express his opinions and ideas openly in People’s Congresses and in all mass media.
[13] In 2004, however, Libya posted a $1 million bounty for journalist Ashur Shamis, under the allegation that he was linked to Al-Qaeda and terror suspect Abu Qatada.
[citation needed] In 2006, Amnesty International called for an independent inquiry into unconfirmed deaths that occurred in Abu Salim maximum security prison during the 1996 riot.
Those released included 45 members of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), most of whom had been in prison since the mid-1990s after being sentenced in unfair trials for an attempt to overthrow then-jamahiriya leader Muammar Gaddafi.
"[38][39] Libya was suspended from the UN Human Rights Council by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 65/265, which was adopted by consensus and cited the Gaddafi government's use of violence against protesters.
[40] A number of governments, including Britain, Canada, Switzerland, the United States, Germany and Australia took action to freeze assets of Gaddafi and his associates.
[41] The move was criticised as double-standard as numerous similar human right abuses in Bahrain, Yemen or elsewhere produced no action at all.
[citation needed] Luis Moreno Ocampo, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, estimated that between 500 and 700 people were killed by Gaddafi's security forces in February 2011, before the rebels even took up arms.
[42] This is further supported by claims of Human Rights Watch, that 10 protesters, who had already agreed to lay down arms, were executed by a government paramilitary group in Bani Walid in May.
[43] On 26 February 2011, the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously in a resolution to impose strict sanctions, including targeted travel bans, against Gaddafi's government, as well as to refer Gaddafi and other members of his regime to the International Criminal Court for investigation into allegations of brutality against civilians, which could constitute crimes against humanity in violation of international law.
[citation needed] Rebel forces have been criticized for a number of human rights violations, with some being accused of being responsible for the torture and killing of African Mercenaries who were targeting civilians in Misrata, Benghazi, and Zawiyah.
[23][45] According to the Amnesty investigation, the number of casualties was heavily exaggerated, and that "some of the protesters may have been armed," "there is no proof of mass killing of civilians on the scale of Syria or Yemen," and "there is no evidence that aircraft or heavy anti-aircraft machine guns were used against crowds."
[49] In December 2011, PHR released another report documenting evidence of a massacre at a warehouse in Tripoli in which soldiers of Khamis Qaddafi’s 32nd Brigade unlawfully detained, raped, tortured and executed at least 53 detainees.
[51] During and after the war, the National Transitional Council implemented a new Law 37, restricting freedom of speech, where any praise of glorification of Gaddafi or the previous government is punishable with imprisonment, with sentences ranging from three to fifteen years.
According to the report, since July 2014, Ganfoda has been besieged by Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army forces; the civilian has suffered long-month power cut, resulting in shortage of food, water, and medicine.
It also showed ambulance crews cannot enter the town due to ground and air attacks; and the Libyan Red Crescent Society cannot provide any humanitarian relief for the people.
[55] On September 21, 2020, the European Union Council imposed sanctions on three companies and two people, which were responsible for human rights abuses in Libya and violated the UN arms embargo.
[56] On 25 July 2022, Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee, UN Assistant Secretary-General for political affairs and peace operations stated that the overall situation in Libya remains “highly volatile”, while clashes in and around Tripoli surged.
Frustrated Libyans demonstrated over the lack of progress on elections and poor State services, prolonging tensions and fuelling insecurity.
In June 2013, two politicians, Ali Tekbali and Fathi Sager, appeared in court for "insulting Islam" for publishing a cartoon promoting women's rights.
[68] The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor published a report condemning the Libyan coastguard officers' whipping of a group of migrants rescued near Libya’s Sabratha.
According to the report, the migrants smuggled into Libya are subject to human trafficking, torture, forced labor, sexual exploitation, and arbitrary detention through their way.
Besides, Human Rights Watch documented similar cases in which Libyan coastguard forces assaulted them verbally and physically in July 2016.
[71] As per the report published by Amnesty International, migrants in Libya’s detention camp faced unabated human rights violations during the first six months of 2021.
Diana Eltahawy, Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa director was quoted as saying “The report also highlights the ongoing complicity of European states that have shamefully continued to enable and assist Libyan coastguards in capturing people at sea and forcibly returning them to the hellscape of detention in Libya, despite knowing full well the horrors they will endure.”[72] On 11 October 2022, UN human rights reported that migrants in Libya were often compelled to accept ‘assisted return’ to their home countries in conditions that may not meet international human rights laws and standards.
[75][76] Libya's stances on international human rights treaties are as follows: This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
