By Libya Herald staff.
Tripoli, 18 February 2015:
Human rights abuses and war crimes continue, . . .[restrict]said Lawyers for Justice in Libya (LFJL). In spite of threatened sanctions by the UN and a mandate to prosecute violators by the International Criminal Court (ICC), nothing has been done to curb the abuses.
Using the occasion of the fourth anniversary of Libya’s revolution to release a new statement on war crimes and rights abuses in Libya, LFJL urged the ICC to step in. There have been, it said, no new Libyan cases announced by the ICC since 2011.
The ICC is ready, it must be noted, to prosecute Saif Al-Islam Qaddafi, but Libyan officials have refused to hand him over and insist on trying him in Libya. The International Court has said that Libya is competent to try former spy chief Abdullah Senussi. Both have had their trials postponed by Libyan courts multiple times.
In addition to the ICC, LFJL urged the UN to implement Security Council Resolution 2174, calling for an immediate ceasefire. Furthermore, the group called on local authorities to investigate and prosecute those who carry out acts of kidnappings, assassinations and direct and indiscriminate attacks on civilians and property.
The lack of justice lead perpetrators to think they could continue to act with impunity. “Impunity and not accountability has become the norm in Libya,” stated LFJL director Elham Saudi.
She went on to point out a startling statistic. “Of those arrested, detained or imprisoned in Libya, 1 in 2 persons will be subjected to torture or violence. Furthermore, 1 out of 5 households has someone missing, arrested, detained or imprisoned. These statistics highlight a worrying normalisation of abuse and demonstrate the significant weakening of the rule of law. For these reasons, today should not only be a day for reflection, but also action,” [/restrict]
