Two days have passed since the assassination of lawyer Hanan Al-Barasi in the city of Benghazi, in broad daylight, without any real procedures to investigate this heinous crime.
Haftar ordered an investigation into the crime and the arrest of perpetrators, to try to absorb the anger of the victim’s family
In front of the parliament building in the city of Al-Bayda, notables from the Barasa tribe came out, in a statement, denouncing Hanan’s assassination and demanding that the perpetrators be extradited and Benghazi cleaned of militias, and even expressed their ability to clean the city from these militias.
An honest investigation
The Benghazi Security Directorate immediately announced that it is investigating the crime, taking the testimony of those present at the moment of the accident and examining the surveillance cameras.
However, some saw that the investigation was assigned to officials of armed security officials suspected of being related to the incident, which are the same bodies that received the Lawyers Union hours before the assassination, and asked them to remove the professional cover on Hanan Al-Barasi, and to cancel her registration from the Union.
Al-Barasi attacked the interior minister of Al-Thani “Abo Shnaf” more than once, days before her death, the Benghazi Security Directorate wrote to the Lawyers union in Benghazi to remove Al-Barasi from the union and silence her. How can the investigation be transparent, and these are the ones responsible for it.
Ignoring the evidence
Haftar and his militia controlling the entire eastern region have not, throughout the past period, investigated or responded to any of the announced threats that were reaching the victim from known parties, even after she submitted a complaint about them despite her appeals to Haftar personally through her videos.
Al-Barasi had repeatedly published clips and audio recordings of people who threatened her with kidnapping and murder, but the security authorities in Benghazi did not take any measures to protect her from these threats and their sources, although they are documented by name, pictures and phone numbers.
These institutions also did not show interest in the assassination attempt that Hanan’s daughter was subjected to a few days ago, despite Al-Barasi submitting a complaint to the Security Department about the incident.
Neither these parties nor the media affiliated with Haftar spoke of Al-Barasi criticizing Haftar’s son, “Saddam” hours before her assassination, and his unjustly attaining the rank of major, and about the corruption of the armed groups he leads in Benghazi and the East, headed by the 106th Brigade, which was involved in the kidnapping of representative Siham Serqiwa from her home in July of last year.
Fate of Serqiwa
In fact, it is not possible to hold much hope on the ongoing investigations, as Hanan is not the first to face the same fate after criticizing Haftar and his sons, and the military project there.
This was preceded by the kidnapping of parliament member Siham Serqiwa from her home, after she opposed the aggression against Tripoli, and more than a year after her disappearance, her fate has not been revealed yet, and the officials there did not give any clear facts. Indeed, Abo Shnaf issued a statement that was faced with sarcastic reactions after he accused a terrorist group of entering Benghazi, kidnapping Serqiwa, and then leaving the city.
These evident crimes reflect the extent of brutality and criminality in areas under the control of Haftar and his militias, which leave behind dead bodies wherever they go, and perhaps Trahuna is the biggest witness to these massacres after the discovery of 25 graves from which 115 bodies were exhumed so far, and the question remains who will hold these killers accountable in light of Haftar’s protection for them, and ensuring that they evade judicial justice in the areas under his control?
