Libya: Crimes of Abductions and Assassinations, (January – June 2020)

Libya: Crimes of Abductions and Assassinations,
(January – June 2020)

Over the report’s period, 688 casualties of violent incidents in various cities in Libya were documented. The majority, 96% of the victims were civilians, 662 victims, and the percentage of victims from the police, security and military sectors was 4%. The percentage of victims of arbitrary detentions accounted for 55% of the total casualties, victims of assassinations and murder, accounted for 31% of the total casualties, and victims of kidnappings accounted for 9%. About two-thirds of the victims (446 victims, 65%) were documented during the months of April, May and June, while the highest number was in May (193 victims, 28%).

The most violent incident observed during the reporting period was the mass killing that occurred in the town of Mizdah, where[i] “On 27 May at least 30 migrants were killed and 11 injured in Mezda by an armed group affiliated to traffickers and the LAAF [militias loyal to retired Maj Gen Khalifa Haftar]”.

Incidents were distributed more or less closely over the three months; the reporting period. In January, the number of victims was 50 (28%), February accounted for 64 victims (35%), and March accounted for 68 victims (37%).

Most victims, 95% of the total, were victims of crimes in 13 cities and regions of Libya, while the rest were distributed over 15 cities and towns. Benghazi is the city with the highest number of victims, 161 victims, which represents (23%) of the total number of victims, followed by the cities of al-Bayda and Tarhuna, each with 80 victims (12%). Thus, those three cities, Benghazi, al-Bayda and Tarhuna, accounted for almost half of the number of victims of killings and kidnappings during the reporting period. Most of Tarhuna victims are people whose bodies were found in mass graves, after the retreat of Haftar’s militias from the area.

370 victims, (54%) of the total number of victims, are in detention, and 212 victims were killed (31%), while 45 victims, (7%), remain missing, joining hundreds of victims of enforced disappearance from previous years. 454 of the victims, (66%) were citizens and 222 victims (32%) were expats, while (2%) were unidentified. Children and women, together, accounted for (8%) of the total number of victims during the reporting period.

[i] United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL): “Acting SRSG’s Oral Update to the 44th Session of the Human Rights Council, Pursuant to Human Rights Council Resolution 40/27I”, June 18, 2020.