UN decries ‘sheer horror’ suffered by thousands detained in Liabya

GENEVA: Untold thousands of men, women and children are being held in horrific conditions in Libya by armed groups who subject them to torture and other abuses, a UN report said Tuesday.

Fresh findings from the UN rights office and the UN Support Mission in Libya ( UNSMIL) found that Libya was plagued by “widespread, prolonged arbitrary and unlawful detention and endemic human rights abuses in custody.”

Libya descended into chaos following the overthrow of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, with dozens of armed factions filling the power vacuum.

Since renewed hostilities broke out in 2014, armed groups on all sides have rounded up suspected opponents, critics, activists, medical professionals, journalists and politicians, Tuesday’s report said.

“This report lays bare not only the appalling abuses and violations experienced by Libyans deprived of their liberty, but the sheer horror and arbitrariness of such detentions,” UN rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said in a statement.

“These violations and abuses need to stop, and those responsible for such crimes should be held fully to account.”

The report however did not look at the widespread abusive detention of migrants in lawless Libya, which has long been a major transit hub for people from Africa and elsewhere trying to reach Europe. — AFP