[D66] Mass killings, arbitrary detention under new Libyan regime

[Antid Oto]

Mass killings, arbitrary detention under new Libyan regime
By Patrick O’Connor
25 October 2011

US-based Human Rights Watch yesterday revealed it had evidence of a massacre of
53 people carried out by anti-Gaddafi fighters in the devastated Libyan city of
Sirte. The bodies, some with their hands bound behind their backs before being
shot about a week ago, were discovered in Hotel Mahari, in Sirte’s District 2.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) noted: “The bloodstains on the grass directly below the
bodies, bullet holes visible in the ground, and the spent cartridges of AK-47
and FN-1 rifles scattered around the site strongly suggest that some, if not all
of the people, were shot and killed in the location where they were discovered.”

Local people identified two of the murdered men as a former Gaddafi government
official and a military officer, but reported that many others were Sirte
residents who had attempted to flee as the NATO-backed “rebel” forces were
laying waste to the city. The HRW statement continued: “Other victims were
possibly released from Ibn Sina Hospital in Sirte, they said, after being
treated for conflict-related injuries. The claim that some of the victims had
been released from the hospital is consistent with the discovery of bandaged
wounds on some of the bodies.”

The hotel was under the control of anti-Gaddafi forces from Misrata when the 53
people were killed. Graffiti on the walls indicated that five militia groups had
occupied the building.

The mass killing was committed in the final stage of the NATO-enforced siege of
Sirte, which involved the unlawful firing of mortars, rockets, and other
missiles into civilian areas. Not a single building in the city avoided being
hit, and large areas were reduced to rubble. The operation culminated in the
savage killing of Muammar Gaddafi and the massacre of his aides, guards and his
son Mo’tassim.

HRW reported yesterday: “At the site where Muammar Gaddafi was captured, we
found the remains of at least 95 people who had apparently died that day. The
vast majority had apparently died in the fighting and NATO strikes prior to
Gaddafi’s capture, but between six and ten of the dead appear to have been
executed at the site with gunshot wounds to the head and body.”

Further details are emerging about the mistreatment and torture of Gaddafi
before he was shot through the head by a “rebel” fighter. Video footage taken
after his capture and before his execution, published on the GlobalPost website,
appears to show Gaddafi being sodomised with an object by one of the militiamen.
GlobalPost’s Tracey Shelton said: “There is some question as to whether the
instrument was a knife from the end of a gun, which Libyans call a Bicketti, or
a utility tool known as a Becker Knife and Tool, which is popularly known as a BKT.”

The barbaric conclusion to the NATO military campaign in Libya underscores the
fraud of the declared “liberation” of the country. The Transitional National
Council (TNC) has been installed as the puppet administration of Washington and
its European allies, through a neo-colonial war that was waged in violation of
international law. Its purpose was to bolster the imperialist powers’
geo-strategic standing throughout the region and to give them control over
Libya’s lucrative oil reserves.

TNC chairman Mustafa Abdel-Jalil yesterday announced a committee of inquiry to
investigate the circumstances of Gaddafi’s death―but this will be nothing but a
whitewash. Jalil has maintained that Gaddafi was either killed in “crossfire,”
or, even more absurdly, that he was shot by his own staffers and loyalists.

Jalil and other TNC officials are yet to respond to reports detailing the
arbitrary detention and torture of thousands of political prisoners, alleged
Gaddafi supporters and fighters.

The Washington Post noted Sunday that under international law, combatants in
civil war must be released after the fighting ends unless they have committed
crimes such as attacking civilians. Under the TNC, however, the Post reported:
“Nearly 7,000 prisoners of war are packed into dingy, makeshift jails around
Libya, where they have languished for weeks without charges and have faced abuse
and even torture, according to human rights groups and interviews with the
detainees.”

The TNC is a self-appointed body, largely comprised of senior ex-Gaddafi regime
officials, different Islamist forces and Western intelligence assets. Its
installation as the new Libyan government has nothing to do with “democracy,” as
claimed by US President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and
Britain’s David Cameron.

Part of the “liberation” speech on Sunday delivered by Jalil, Gaddafi’s former
justice minister, was an appeal to the Islamist forces within the disparate
coalition that worked with NATO against the previous government. Jalil declared
Libya an “Islamic state.” Insisting that any “law that runs contrary to the
Islamic principles of the Islamic Shariah was legally void,” he decreed there
would no prohibition of polygamy and that usury would be banned.

Behind the official rhetoric about a “liberated” Libya, the major powers are
proceeding with their carve-up of the oil-rich state. Little pretence is being
made by the governments involved that the so-called reconstruction of Libya is
anything more than an oil and cash grab.

Britain’s defence secretary, Philip Hammond, told the BBC: “I would expect
British companies, even British sales directors, [to be] packing their suitcases
and looking to get out to Libya and take part in the reconstruction of that
country as soon as they can... Libya is a relatively wealthy country with oil
reserves, and I expect there will be opportunities for British and other
companies to get involved.”

Daniel Kawczynski―a parliamentarian with Britain’s ruling Conservative Party who
serves as chairman of the All Party group for Libya―spelled out the mercenary
calculations of the major powers in even blunter terms. Demanding that the new
Libyan administration foot the bill for Britain’s bombing raids during the NATO
campaign, Kawczynski declared: “Libya is clearly not a country without means. We
should not forget that in helping to free the people of Libya from oppression,
we have also helped free an economy rich in natural resources that exported over
$34 billion worth of oil products in 2009 and had a GDP estimated at over $85
billion.”

British, French and other European corporate executives have already travelled
to Tripoli and Benghazi in delegations sponsored by their national governments’
trade and investment departments. The British government body, UK Trade &
Investment, has estimated that oil and gas contracts―as well as projects
involving reconstruction, civil engineering, education and
telecommunications―will be worth $320 billion in the next ten years.

The US is aggressively pursuing its corporate interests. The InvestorPlace
website noted yesterday: “Libya will be a multibillion-dollar payday for US
stocks if the political situation stabilizes itself. And stocks like Exxon,
General Electric, and Caterpillar will be first in line to benefit from the
rebuilding.” Other identified “potential winners” included Chevron,
ConocoPhillips and Halliburton.

Obama is being urged to ensure that these and other corporations are not
outmanoeuvred by their European rivals. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham last
week expressed concern that allowing Britain and France to lead the NATO
campaign meant that “when a day like this comes, we don’t have the
infrastructure in place that we could have.” He continued: “Let’s get in on the
ground. There is a lot of money to be made in the future in Libya. Lot of oil to
be produced.”

http://wsws.org/articles/2011/oct2011/liby-o25.shtml