On Monday, Amnesty International accused the military courts in the Eastern Region of conducting mock courts marred by torture, according to which 22 people were sentenced to death, hundreds have been imprisoned, and others have been tortured in pretrial detention since 2018.
The organization revealed – in a report – that the military courts have condemned hundreds of civilians in eastern Libya with secret and grossly unfair military trials aimed at punishing opponents and critics, actual or supposed, of the “armed forces” led by Haftar and the armed groups affiliated with it.
The report indicated that there are two people who were exclusively targeted; Because of their journalistic work and another group that participated in peaceful protests, dozens of others defended human rights or published criticism of “Haftar’s forces” on social media, pointing out that former detainees said that they were kidnapped and detained for years even before they were referred to the military prosecution, and they were held incommunicado for up to 20 months, in conditions similar to enforced disappearance, they were beaten, and threats were made against them, and the method of waterboarding was used against them, and some were forced to sign confessions of crimes they had not committed – according to the text of the report -.
In the same context, Deputy Director of the Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa, Dina El-Tahawy, said: “Military trials for civilians are beyond international and regional standards, and are inherently unfair.”
