Libya’s Eastern Forces Execute 31 After Unfair Military Trials, HRW Says

Libya’s eastern-based Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF) have executed at least 31 people since late August following trials that failed to meet basic fair-trial standards, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said, warning that at least 50 other detainees face an imminent risk of execution.

The executions are the first known in Libya since 2010, according to the rights group, which urged the forces led by General Khalifa Haftar to halt further executions and impose a moratorium on the death penalty.

On August 23, the LAAF military prosecutor announced that 10 people had been executed by firing squad after being convicted of murder and terrorism-related offences. Human rights organisations subsequently documented at least 31 executions by September 10.

Many of those executed had been arrested in Derna and Benghazi during or after fighting between the LAAF and rival armed groups from 2014 to 2018. Military courts in eastern Libya convicted hundreds of civilians in secret proceedings between 2018 and 2021, sentencing at least 22 to death, according to Amnesty International.

HRW said the trials were marred by serious due-process violations, including allegations that confessions had been extracted through torture. Defendants were reportedly denied access to lawyers of their choice, opportunities to challenge evidence and written, reasoned judgments. Families, journalists and human rights organisations were also barred from attending the proceedings.

The executions proceeded despite a November 2025 ruling by Libya’s Supreme Court declaring unconstitutional a provision of Law No. 4/2017 that allowed military courts to try civilians for terrorism and crimes against the state.

According to HRW, at least two death sentences that had been reduced to life imprisonment on appeal in 2019 were nevertheless carried out this year.

The rights group also said authorities failed to notify families before the executions, withheld the bodies of those killed and buried them without relatives present. Some families were reportedly warned against holding funerals.

“The Libyan Arab Armed Forces are putting people to death after secret trials built on confessions allegedly extracted through torture,” said Bassam Khawaja, HRW’s deputy Middle East and North Africa director.

Libya remains divided between rival authorities. The internationally recognised Government of National Unity controls the west, including Tripoli, while the LAAF and affiliated forces hold much of the east and south.

The United Nations and the Tripoli-based government have condemned the executions, HRW said. The organisation called on governments that support the LAAF to use their influence to press Haftar’s forces to halt further executions.

HRW also urged authorities in both eastern and western Libya to restrict military courts to offences committed by military personnel and review cases involving civilians prosecuted before such courts.

The organisation opposes capital punishment in all circumstances and called on Libya to abolish the death penalty, imposing a moratorium on executions in the meantime.

Source: FSX Business News