Hundreds missing in Libya, U.N. experts say

Reuters, by Stephanie Nebehay, GENEVA | Thu Mar 24, 2011

(Reuters) - Hundreds of people in Libya are reported to have disappeared after being rounded up by security forces in the past few months and may have been tortured or executed, U.N. human rights experts said on Thursday.

Taken collectively, the "wave of enforced disappearances" could amount to a crime against humanity, they said.

Allegations of disappearances include Libyans who called for demonstrations against Muammar Gaddafi as well as members of the armed forces who refused to fire on protesters or joined them, one of the experts told Reuters.

The U.N. working group on enforced or involuntary disappearances voiced concern that "according to the information received, hundreds of persons have been taken to undisclosed locations where they might have been submitted to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatments or executed".

Enforced disappearances may amount to a crime against humanity when perpetuated in a systematic way and individuals can be held criminally responsible, it said in a statement.

"The cases to which we are referring are directly attributable to state agents, either security forces or groups under their control," Olivier de Frouville, a French expert on the U.N. watchdog, told Reuters.

"Most of the allegations concern either people who called for demonstrating, thereby publicly showing their opposition to the regime, or members of the security forces who refused to fire on demonstrators or sought to join the revolt," he said.

A number of the allegations received by the U.N. experts involve recruits from Libya's Air Force Academy who have disappeared, de Frouville said.

"We have launched an urgent appeal in the direction of the government, but to my knowledge we have not had a reply."

The U.N. body, composed of five independent experts, helps families around the world determine the fate and whereabouts of disappeared relatives by insisting that the government concerned investigate allegations.

It upholds respect for a U.N. declaration on disappearances, adopted by the General Assembly in 1992. The pact is not legally binding but reflects international customary law.

If it has detailed information on missing people, the U.N. working body can transmit it to national, regional or international judicial authorities for eventual prosecution.

The U.N. Security Council has already referred Libya to the International Criminal Court (ICC) whose chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo is investigating Gaddafi, his sons and his inner circle for possible war crimes.

Related Articles:

Libyan claims rape by soldiers, is dragged away

Syria releases all protesters jailed in past month