By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The United Nations human rights office on Wednesday expressed concerns over the discovery of dozens of bodies in an area of Libya’s capital controlled by an armed militia whose leader was killed last month.
The UN Commission for Human Rights says some of the bodies were charred, buried in shallow graves, while others were deposited in hospital refrigerators.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said he was shocked by revelations that “gross rights violations” were uncovered at detention facilities in Tripoli run by the Stabilization Support Authority (SSA), an armed group whose commander, Abdel-Ghani al-Kikli, was killed in militia fighting last month.
The rights office says it has received information on the excavation of 10 charred bodies at the SSA headquarters in the Abu Salim neighbourhood and another 67 bodies discovered in refrigerators in the Abu Salim and Al Khadra hospitals.
It also cited reports of a burial ground at the Tripoli Zoo that was run by the SSA.
The office said the identities of the bodies were not immediately clear.
“Our worst held fears are being confirmed: dozens of bodies have been discovered at these sites, along with the discovery of suspected instruments of torture and abuse, and potential evidence of extrajudicial killings,” Türk said in a statement.
Türk called on authorities to seal the area to preserve evidence, saying there is a need for accountability for the killings.
He urged that the UN should be granted access to the sites to document rights violations.
Like many other militias in western Libya, the SSA has been implicated in atrocities during the civil war that followed the overthrow and killing of longtime Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
