Eastern Libya..Security formations that allow the return of the symbols of the former regime

TRIPOLI -

A new Amnesty International report - accusing the "Internal Security Service" in eastern Libya of committing horrific violations against dissidents - has reminded Libyans of the notoriety of this agency during the era of Muammar Gaddafi's regime.

Amnesty International said - in a report on Friday (6 August) - that "members of the Internal Security Agency - who are among the powerful armed groups operating in eastern Libya - have committed horrific human rights violations, in order to silence critics and opponents, including Arbitrarily detained, subjected to torture and enforced disappearance.

According to the international organization, the Libyan House of Representatives is reviewing the government’s budget for 2021, from which funds have been allocated to militias and armed groups with a history of abuse, including the Internal Security Agency.

The international organization called on the Government of National Unity not to reward bad militias and armed groups, by granting them legitimacy and salaries, after targeting individuals on the basis of their tribal affiliation, and activists who criticize the militias of Major General Khalifa Haftar.

Haftar is following a military parade a year after his defeat in the battle of Tripoli in front of the Al-Wefaq government forces (Al-Jazeera)

Previous Name and Old Items

Libya's Internal Security Service was renamed;

It became the "General Investigation Service", due to its association in the minds of Libyans with the horrific violations committed by the internal security elements during the era of Muammar Gaddafi.

In eastern Libya, Haftar brought the Internal Security Service back to the fore in 2015, and is known to this day by this name, especially after returning his officers from the supporters of the former regime to work again within Haftar's armed formations.

Local and international organizations accuse the internal security elements in eastern Libya of committing grave violations against supporters of the "February 17 revolution" and opponents of Haftar and his militias in the eastern region, and their prosecution, imprisonment and torture "to settle political scores."

The General Investigation Service, "Internal Security" in Benghazi, is led by Abd al-Hamid al-Ra'id al-Maghrabi, who was the head of the Internal Security Information Department during the era of Muammar Gaddafi.

Musa Al-Werfalli, known as "Musa Pharaoh", Wanis Al-Abdali and Ashraf Al-Arfi;

Its most prominent leaders accused of human rights violations.

return tyranny

Imad al-Din al-Muntasir, head of the Foundation for Democracy and Human Rights, considered the Amnesty International report of great importance, and it can be relied upon in addressing members of the US House of Representatives, the US Senate and the US government about the infiltration of internal security elements from the Gaddafi era into the current state institutions and their alliance with Haftar, which means the return of tyranny again.

He said, "The accounts of victims and witnesses that we have explicitly indicate the involvement of the security services in the eastern region in systematic, widespread and continuous crimes against civilians, to suppress freedom of opinion and expression, and to remove political opponents critical of the hierarchy of power under which Khalifa Haftar sits."

Al-Muntasir told Al Jazeera Net that there is an attempt to cover up behind the so-called unification of the security establishment, and if the Libyan government does not stop appointing the tools of repression - which owe allegiance to the Gaddafi and Haftar families - the Libyans will find internal security and intelligence completely outside the control of the state.

Khalifa Haftar is accused of direct responsibility for paving the way for the return of these security elements through the Internal Security Service, and he - as al-Muntasir says - "who was unable to build new security and intelligence services, so he resorted to attracting and relying on former regime elements, in addition to the government's compliance in Tripoli with these militias."

A military parade of Haftar's forces in the city of Benghazi, northeastern Libya (communication sites)

wrong practices

The head of the National Human Rights Committee in Libya, Ahmed Hamza, stressed that the practices of the Internal Security Agency are in violation of the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and inconsistent with international human rights law.

Hamza spoke - to Al Jazeera Net - about "the lack of commitment to the provisions of international law in eastern Libya in particular, and the commission of grave human rights violations that may be described as war crimes."

Hamza held the government directly responsible after it granted legitimacy and financial funding to armed groups that committed horrific crimes.

He said that the security and military leaders are legally responsible for the horrific practices on the ground committed by their armed formations, and they cannot be excused from responsibility before the local and international courts.

Hamza called on the government of national unity to restructure and reform the security sector throughout Libya, in accordance with the principles of the rule of law and human rights standards, and "dissolving and dismantling armed groups and formations that (their members) were contained in undisciplined security services and not subject to the authority of the government."

Sami al-Atrash says that returning the elements and soldiers of the former regime makes them a security party in the eastern region and links them to Saif Gaddafi (Reuters)

important indicator

International law professor Sami al-Atrash looks at Amnesty International's report on former regime officers who were working in the Internal Security Agency;

As an important indicator for the accurate follow-up of an international non-governmental organization for these security formations in the eastern region.

According to al-Atrash, the armed formations controlling the eastern region consist of officers from the former regime operating within the course of the counter-revolution, mercenaries and foreign forces, in addition to Haftar's militias that tried to ride the wave of the "February 17 Revolution", in order to achieve its goals.

Al-Atrash continued to Al-Jazeera Net that "these formations are working to settle accounts, and at the same time they represent a political ambition in which all security tools are employed to exploit them at any time by their leaders."

The professor of international law said that returning the elements and soldiers of the former regime in Egypt, and assigning them to armed formations under the guidance of their old leaders located abroad and implicated in human rights crimes;

It makes them a security party in the eastern region and links them to Saif Gaddafi, if he decides to run in the upcoming elections.

Al-Atrash stated that the attempt of the National Unity Government to cover up the crimes committed by the internal security elements in eastern Libya, and to grant them legitimacy and funding from the public budget instead of bringing them to justice; It is one of the most dangerous acts that threaten civil peace and stability, and undermine transitional justice efforts and the basis of democratic civil action.