'A climate of fear': eastern Libya's military courts convicted hundreds in sham trials, Amnesty International says

Former detainees told the rights group they were subjected to torture and other ill-treatment while in pre-trial detention.
Prisoners of war loyal to the forces of Libya's eastern military strongman Khalifa Hifter are pictured after their liberation by the new Libyan unity government on March 31, 2021, in the port city of Zawiya, 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, following the latest peace deal between the North African country's former rival governments.
Prisoners of war loyal to the forces of Libya's eastern military strongman Khalifa Hifter are pictured after their liberation by the new Libyan unity government on March 31, 2021, in the port city of Zawiya, 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, following the latest peace deal between the North African country's former rival governments. - MAHMUD TURKIA/AFP via Getty Images
Al Monitor: The Pulse of the Middle East
Al-Monitor Staff

Military courts in eastern Libya have convicted hundreds of civilians and sentenced 22 to death in “sham, torture-tainted trials” aimed at punishing critics of renegade commander Khalifa Hifter’s forces, Amnesty International said Monday.

“The use of military trials for civilians is a blatant smokescreen by which the LAAF (Libyan Arab Armed Forces) and affiliated armed groups are exerting their power to punish those who oppose them and instill a climate of fear,” said Amnesty International’s regional deputy director Diana Eltahawy.

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