By Hadi Fornaji.
Tripoli, 16 June 2013:
An inmate was gunned down inside Sebha prison after a guard allegedly connived with outside attackers . . .[restrict]by letting them into their victim’s cell.
Details of the murder of Ibrahim Al-Hasnawi in a hail of bullets on Friday are still sketchy. However, unconfirmed reports allege that members of the Abu-Zahra family of the Awlad Sulaiman tribe were allowed into the prison by fellow tribesmen working there.
Hasnawi, who had received death threats within the last fortnight, had barricaded himself inside of his cell. A guard, apparently in league with the killers is said to have tried to persuade him to allow the cell door to be opened. When he refused, the attackers shot their way into the room and pumped six bullets into him. He was said to have been clutching a copy of the Koran when he died.
The attack was launched after all the other prisoners in the area had been forced to move out of their cells, which created a general disturbance. The prison governor, fearing a riot, called in the Libyan Shield Brigade (Qurdah Martyrs’ Battalion). However, the assassination took place before the unit had time to deploy. It is unclear if any of the attackers was detained.
The same day, Col Omar Salah, the commander of a convoy bringing vehicles and supplies to the Battalion was killed in an ambush at Kira, near Brak, allegedly by members of the Zawiya Martyrs’ Brigade, who had earlier stopped the convoy for two hours at Brak.
In another incident the day before, a Tawerghan human rights activist, Salem Shaaban was kidnapped at Tripoli International Airport when seeking to fly to Sebha. There are reports that he is being held at a militia headquarters in Tripoli’s Mizran Street. [/restrict]
