The regime of ousted leader Moammar Gadhafi and the rebel government — the National Transitional Council — have both committed war crimes during the conflict in Libya and someone needs to take control to stop abuses from continuing, Amnesty International said in a report released Tuesday.
The 112-page report detailed many examples of abuses by the Gadhafi loyalists, which included “mass killing of prisoners, torture, enforced disappearances, and arbitrary arrests.”
The report also spotlighted what Amnesty called a problem with the National Transitional Council in controlling divergent groups of anti-Gadhafi fighters.
A researcher on Libya for Amnesty International, Diana Eltahawy, told CNN she had overheard screams of pain and the sounds of whipping on a recent visit to a Libyan detention center.
“It is the responsibility of the National (Transitional) Council to investigate these crimes,” she said. “We have called on them as Amnesty International to put the judicial processes in place and to make sure that they get a grip on the various armed groups that are currently conducting arrests outside the framework of the law.”
The report said rebel fighters have conducted revenge attacks on prisoners and, at one point, conducted house-to-house raids killing people they thought were Gadhafi mercenaries.
“The NTC is facing a difficult task of reining in opposition fighters and vigilante groups responsible for serious human rights abuses, including possible war crimes; but has shown unwillingness to hold them accountable,” the report says. “So far, NTC officials have not provided details of any measures taken to address such concerns.”
Gadhafi officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the report.
The NTC released a statement about the report Tuesday.
“The Amnesty report is overwhelmingly filled with the horrific abuses and killings by the Gaddafi regime, however there are a small number of incidents involving those opposed to Gaddafi, the NTC strongly condemns any abuses perpetrated by either side,” the statement said.
“The NTC is firmly committed to upholding human rights and the rule of law, both international and local, the violation of rights no longer has a place in Libya.”
Amnesty said it was up to the NTC to fix these issues.
“It is a war crime for any party to a conflict to kill prisoners,” Amnesty said. “The onus now is on the NTC to do things differently, end abuses and initiate the human rights reforms that are urgently needed.”
