6) Forbid the person from traveling. 7) Expel the person, if foreign.
Article 4 appears to provide militias responsible for serious abuses with immunity from prosecution. Libyan militias are currently detaining roughly 4,000 people, most of them accused of having supported or fought for the Gaddafi government. Most of the detainees have not been brought before any judicial authority for more than one year and are therefore being detained arbitrarily.60 During the course of 2011 and 2012 Human Rights Watch and others continued to document ongoing killings, torture, and forced displacement by militias in Libya.61 In March 2012, the UN International Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Libya noted that anti-Gaddafi forces have committed grave violations during and since the armed conflict.62 The report highlighted the plight of the people from Tawergha, perceived as Gaddafi supporters, whom anti-Gaddafi fighters from Misrata have killed, arbitrarily arrested, and tortured.63 The report said the “widespread and systematic nature” of these abuses indicates that crimes against humanity may have been committed. Article 6 of Law 38/2012 gives the government powers to restrict a person’s movement, impose a fine, or detain a person up to two months if the person is considered a “threat to public security or stability” based on the person’s “previous actions or affiliation with an official or unofficial apparatus or instrument of the former regime.” While affected individuals may challenge the measures before a judge, restrictions on people considered a threat to security should be based on evidence of current threatening activities, rather than on past affiliations. Wrongdoing should be prosecuted under criminal law rather than vague and open-ended powers to detain people as “threats to security.” Article 5 of Law 38/2012 states that even if a court acquits a person who was detained by a militia, that person has no right to initiate a criminal or civil complaint against the state or the militia, unless the detention was based on “fabricated or mendacious” allegations. 60“Libya: New Government should End Illegal Detention”, Human Rights Watch news release, November 16, 2012,
http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/11/16/libya-new-government-should-end-illegal-detention. 61 “Libya: Candidates should address Torture, Illegal Detention,” Human Rights Watch news release, June 18, 2012,
http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/06/18/libya-candidates-should-address-torture-illegal-detention. 62 UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Human Rights Violations and War Crimes Committed by Both Sides –
the latest report on Libya, March 8, 2012, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/LibyaReport.aspx. 63 Libya: Stop Revenge Crimes Against Displaced Persons”, Human Rights Watch news release, March 20, 2013,
http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/03/20/libya-stop-revenge-crimes-against-displaced-persons.
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HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | JANUARY 2014