Interior ministry police are reportedly holding a suspect who has confessed to torturing to death a former Libyan ambassador to France.
The . . .[restrict]diplomat Dr Omar Brebesh died less than 24 hours after going voluntarily to the Al-Shuhada Ashura brigade at their base in the Crimea district in south Tripoli for investigation. According to his son Ziad, Brebesh arrived there at 5.30pm on January 19. The following day, Brebesh’s corpse turned up at a hospital in Zintan.
Another son, Mohammed went to the hospital and described what he found: “I saw his face. There was blood on his nose and mouth. But I didn’t see the rest of his body from the other side. There was a bump on his forehead. After that, I kissed him and that was that. Later when we saw the other side of his face at the hospital in Tripoli, it looked like his jaw was broken, like his face was not in the right place”.
The family took photographs of the body which they have since passed to Human Rights Watch, to whom they also gave a preliminary autopsy report. This showed the body had received multiple injuries.
The organisation reports that the pictures show welts, cuts, extensive abdominal bruising, leg lacerations, a large wound on the sole of the left foot and the apparent removal of toenails. It concludes that Brebesh was tortured extensively before his death.
Brebesh who was 62, served in the Libyan embassy in Paris for four years until 2008, first as cultural attaché and then, for his final nine months, as ambassador. He returned to work in Tripoli at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he was serving in the legal department at the time of his death.
Ziad Brebesh said that his father had been called to the Al-Shohada Ashura by Commander Khalid Al-Blehzi. Ziad went with him and drank tea after his father had been led into an interrogation room. Within an hour, the young man was taken by militiamen to the family home where a firearm and a vehicle were confiscated. When Ziad tried to return to the militia base later that night, he was not allowed to see his father. The following day the family again visited the base and learned that Brebesh was dead and that his body was in the Zintan hospital.
Sarah Leah Whitson, the Middle East and North Africa Director at Human Rights Watch said:
“The Libyan government should send a message that it will not tolerate torture and vigilante justice. The rule of law and the punishment of crimes apply to all Libyans, including those who fought against Muammar Gaddafi.
“The torture and killing of detainees is sadly an ongoing activity by some Libyan militias. These abusive militias will keep torturing people until they are held to account. Libya’s leaders should show the political will to prosecute people who commit serious crimes, regardless of their role in the uprising.
Human Rights Watch reports that prosecutors in Zintan have opened an investigation into Brebesh;s death and has demanded that the process should be speedy and independent.”Anyone found responsible should be punished to the full extent of the law”.
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