Revenge killings and reckless firing in opposition-held eastern Libya

[EFerrari]

Revenge killings and reckless firing in opposition-held eastern Libya

By Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International’s crisis researcher

In the intensive care unit of one of Benghazi’s hospitals I ran into a woman whom I had met some weeks ago in another hospital, where her 5-year-old nephew was undergoing a delicate operation to extract a bullet from his chest. The child had seemingly been the victim of the reckless shooting in the air that goes on all too frequently in Benghazi and elsewhere in eastern Libya.

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A recent poster campaign organized by a youth group calls on those with weapons not to shoot in the air – an interesting and timely initiative, since the reckless shooting continues to kill and injure.

Such incidents are far more frequent than most care to admit and are generally not talked about or are often reported as attacks by pro-Gaddafi elements – notably al-Gaddafi’s “revolutionary committees” – trying to sow fear and chaos in Benghazi. It is fair to say that there is a state of denial when it comes to the less palatable aspects of the post-17 February situation in eastern Libya – notably the behaviour of some the opposition fighters, the “thuwwar” as they are called here.

In the past two and a half weeks, three men, who until 17 February worked for the once-all-powerful infamous Internal Security Agency (ISA, Jihaz al-Amn al-Dakhili), were killed in chilling summary-execution style attacks. The body of the latest victim, a father of six, was found on 10 May in the south-western outskirts of Benghazi. He had been shot in the head, his hands and feet were bound and a scarf was tightly tied around his neck. He was missing a piece of flesh from his right calf and marks on his trousers indicated that he had been kneeling. A blood-stained note bearing his name was found by the body; it said that “… a dog among Gaddafi’s dogs has been eliminated”.

http://livewire.amnesty.org/2011/05/13/revenge-killings-and-reckless-firing-in-opposition-held-eastern-libya/