Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused military authorities in eastern Libya of executing at least 31 people since late August, warning that dozens more detainees face imminent execution.
The international rights organisation said on Wednesday that the executions were the first known in Libya since 2010 and followed what it described as “grossly unfair” military trials.
It also warned that at least 50 other detainees held at Gernada military prison were at risk of execution by the Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF).
The force, led by General Khalifa Haftar, has allegedly carried out the executions following secret trials based on confessions that the rights group said were obtained through torture.
According to HRW, many of those executed or detained were arrested in Derna and Benghazi during the armed conflict between Haftar’s forces and rival armed groups from 2014 to 2018.
The organisation called on the military authorities to immediately halt the executions and introduce a moratorium on the death penalty.
The allegations have raised renewed concerns about due process, the treatment of detainees and the use of capital punishment in eastern Libya.
Libya has experienced prolonged violence and political instability since the overthrow of former leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
The country remains divided between two rival administrations: an internationally recognised government based in Tripoli in the west and a rival eastern administration backed by Haftar’s forces.
The political division has complicated efforts to restore stability and establish unified national institutions, while concerns over human rights and accountability persist.
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