Zawia demonstrates against militia torture, arbitrary arrest and kidnapping

By Ashraf Abdul-Wahab.

Tripoli, 13 April  2013:

There were demonstrations in Zawia this evening, Saturday, against a number of brigades operating in the . . .[restrict]town accused of crimes including kidnapping people and torturing them.

Protestors demanded that the brigades, which include groups registered with the Ministries of Defence and the Interior, be suppressed. Locals claim the groups, said to include elements from the SSC and the Libya Shield forces, have been involved in theft, ransoming people for money or threatening to kidnap them unless paid.

The demonstrators said that the continued existence of the brigades went against the freedoms won in the revolution. With flags and banners, they demanded that no one, other than the judicial police, be allowed to imprison anyone in the town.

They appealed to the government to rescue those held in secret militia prisons at farms around the town. [/restrict]