A human rights group says it has uncovered fresh evidence of the execution of prisoners at the hands of forces loyal to Colonel Gaddafi in Libya. According to Amnesty International researchers in eastern Libya, near the town of Ajdabiya, bodies of two opposition fighters were found shot in the back of the head after their hands had been bound behind their backs.
On Monday 11 April, Amnesty’s researchers said they saw a body of another man who had been shot dead while his hands and feet were bound.
“Based on what our researchers have seen in eastern Libya over the last six weeks, the circumstances of these killings strongly suggest that they were carried out by the forces loyal to Colonel Gaddafi,” said Colm O’Gorman, executive director of Amnesty International Ireland.
“The deliberate killing of captured fighters is a war crime. All those responsible for such crimes – those who ordered them as well as those who carried them out – must be left in no doubt that they will be brought to justice. ”
Amnesty said its delegates also saw the body of a man at Adjabiya hospital whose wrists were tied behind his back with plastic handcuffs and were secured by rope to wire that was used to tie his ankles together.
It said the body, and another brought in with it but already removed for burial by the dead man’s family, had been found at the eastern gate of Ajdabiya, which had been under the control of Colonel Gaddafi’s forces a short time before.
Amnesty International said it is unable to determine whether the bodies were opposition fighters or local people taken prisoner and then killed.
Amnesty said its six-week investigation in eastern Libya found strong evidence that unarmed protesters have been deliberately killed. It also says that the government forces have directly attacked civilian residents fleeing the fighting and committed enforced disappearances and tortured detainees.
“Colonel Gaddafi’s forces have been repeatedly violating international law, and these new killings seem to be the latest example,” said O’Gorman. “The International Criminal Court must act.”
He added: “Individual criminal responsibility applies to those involved in such crimes at all levels of the chain of command, from the top military and political leadership to the soldiers who fired the shots.
“Claiming to be ‘only following orders’ cannot be used as a defence by those who commit war crimes.”
The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor is currently investigating the Gaddafi government’s alleged crimes against humanity in Libya.
