Thursday, October 20, 2011

Amnesty International: Libya needs justice after Gaddafi

Libya's new leaders must bring to justice all those suspected of human rights abuses under Muammar Gaddafi's fallen regime following his death, human rights group Amnesty International said today.

"The legacy of repression and abuse from Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's rule will not end until there is a full accounting for the past and human rights are embedded in Libya's new institutions," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty's deputy director for North Africa and the Middle East.

"Colonel Gaddafi's death must not stop his victims in Libya from seeing justice being done. The many Libyan officials suspected of serious human rights violations committed during and before this year's uprising, including the infamous Abu Salim prison massacre in 1996, must answer for their crimes."

"The new authorities must make a complete break from the culture of abuse that Colonel Gaddafi's regime perpetuated and initiate the human rights reforms that are urgently needed in the country," Sahraoui added.