“Khalifa Hiftar needs to urgently hold his forces accountable for any war crimes they are committing and apparently advertising online,” said Hanan Salah, senior Libya researcher at Human Rights Watch. The torture of detainees and summary execution of fighters who have been captured or who have surrendered are war crimes. Those who commit, order, assist, or have command responsibility for war crimes in Libya are subject to prosecution by domestic courts or the International Criminal Court, which has a mandate over war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide committed there since February 15, 2011. Senior LAAF commanders are obligated to support steps to hold those responsible for these actions accountable, Human Rights Watch said. “Senior LAAF commanders should know that they too can be held accountable for a plethora of war crimes by their rank and file if they don’t hold those responsible for the crimes to account,” Salah said.

Source: Libya Today June 16, 2020 04:41 UTC