Human Rights Watch on Oct. 14 reported that at least 31 people have been executed in Libya after unjust military trials since late August. Bassam Khawaja, HRW's deputy Middle East and North Africa director, decried the executions, saying:

The Libyan Arab Armed Forces are putting people to death after secret trials built on confessions allegedly extracted through torture, in courts that Libya's own Supreme Court has said should not be trying civilians… Every execution carried out under these circumstances is an irreversible injustice and every government with influence over the LAAF should be pressing hard to stop the next one.

Libya has been in turmoil since 2011, when an uprising backed by NATO toppled the entrenched regime of Moammar Qaddafi, who seized power in a 1969 military coup. A 2020 ceasefire ended open war, but there is still militia violence and suppression of fundamental freedoms. The Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF) dominates eastern and southern Libya.

The LAAF, led by Gen. Khalifa Haftar, has been the de facto power in eastern Libya as a "parallel security institution" since 2014, taking on many governmental roles. The non-state armed group has sought to rival the internationally recognized Government of National Unity (GNU) in Tripoli.

Human rights groups have documented 31 executions in LAAF-controlled territory, "including eight from Derna and twenty-three from Benghazi," as of Sept. 10, all approved by the Supreme Military Court under the LAAF's authority. Those killed had been "convicted of murder and terrorism-related offences linked to conflict between LAAF and opposing armed groups between 2014 and 2018," and some were reportedly tortured into making a confession, which was then used against them as evidence. The LAAF military prosecutor announced the mass execution by firing squad of 10 people on August 23.

These are seemingly the first executions in Libya since Qaddafi was overthrown. At least 50 more people in the LAAF's Gernada military prison have been sentenced to death and are "at imminent risk of execution." These sentences appear to contravene a 2025 decision by Libya's Supreme Court that "trial of civilians before military courts for terrorism crimes and crimes committed against the personality of the state is unconstitutional."

The United Nations and GNU have denounced the executions. The UN Support Mission in Libya (SMIL) has warned that resolving the ongoing political division is urgent, amid persistent clashes between armed groups and criminal networks competing for territorial control.

From JURIST, Oct. 16. Used with permission.