Haftar's forces execute 30 after secret military trials in eastern Libya

Haftar's forces execute 30 after secret military trials in eastern Libya

Submitted by MEE staff on Sat, 09/26/2026 - 13:13 Amnesty International says defendants were tortured into giving 'confessions' later used as evidence, as 50 more face death Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar leaves after talks with Greece's foreign minister in Athens, on 17 January 2020 (Aris Messinis/AFP) Off

At least 30 men have been executed in eastern Libya since late August after being sentenced to death in secretive military trials and at least 50 others remain at imminent risk of execution, local media and rights groups have reported over the last week.

Amnesty International said the Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF), led by eastern commander Khalifa Haftar and the de facto authorities in the region, resumed executions on 23 August in Libya for the first time since 2010. 

Those executed had been convicted following “grossly unfair and secretive trials” marred by torture, the rights group said.

Some of those executed or still awaiting death sentences were convicted of murder and terrorism-related offences linked to fighting between the LAAF and opposing armed groups between 2014 and 2018, Amnesty said.

Several detainees claimed to have been tortured by armed groups affiliated with the LAAF following their arrests, including to obtain “confessions” that were later used as evidence against them, the rights group said.

“The LAAF authorities must immediately halt all executions,” the organisation said, calling for a moratorium and the overturning of convictions and death sentences handed down following unfair trials.

Amnesty also called on authorities to retry civilians accused of internationally recognised criminal offences in accordance with international standards of fairness in civilian courts that do not use evidence obtained through torture.

It called on authorities to grant international monitors access to Gernada and other detention sites in eastern Libya.

Families refused burials

Human rights defenders also reported that the authorities prevented some of the executed from being buried by their families, keeping the bodies and burying them themselves.

Amnesty said relatives were reportedly permitted to identify the bodies before burial but told not to hold funerals.

UN bodies have described such treatment as cruel, inhuman and degrading, the organisation said.

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The executions started about two weeks after Major General Fawzi al-Mansouri, the LAAF military intelligence chief, was killed in a car bomb attack in Benghazi in August.  

Separately, Libyan rights group Crime Monitoring Organisation said it had documented 31 executions at Gernada and al-Kuwayfiyah prisons by 10 September.

It said the prisoners had been sentenced by military courts and that case files had not been made public, making it difficult to independently assess whether fair trial guarantees had been respected.

The Libya Al-Ahrar television channel reported that families had been informed of further executions at the two prisons.

The executions had been condemned by the UN and the Libyan authorities in Tripoli, it said.

On 17 September, the UN Support Mission in Libya said that more than 30 people had been executed in eastern Libya in recent weeks and urged an immediate halt to any further executions.

It said the resumption of executions had ended Libya’s de facto moratorium on the death penalty that had lasted about 15 years.

Military prosecutions

Amnesty said military courts in eastern Libya had repeatedly violated defendants' rights to a fair trial, including access to lawyers, sufficient time to prepare a defence, the right to remain silent and the right to a public hearing before an independent and impartial court.

The organisation added that military prosecutors and judges in the east are not independent because they are affiliated with the LAAF or allied armed groups.

In 2017, Libya’s eastern-based House of Representatives passed a law giving military courts jurisdiction over civilians accused of terrorism and crimes committed in “military areas”. The law was later declared unconstitutional by Libya’s Constitutional Chamber. 

Executions have resumed as UN-led efforts to unify Libya’s rival institutions and prepare the country for national elections continue.

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Amnesty said the eastern authorities should halt all executions and conduct independent and impartial investigations into allegations of torture and other ill-treatment.

The executions come as the country remains split between rival administrations, with the internationally recognised Government of National Unity controlling the west and an administration allied with Haftar’s forces controlling the east and much of the south.

The LAAF’s hold on eastern Libya dates back to Haftar’s 2014 Operation Dignity, which was launched from Benghazi against armed groups. His forces later used the campaign to tighten their grip on much of eastern Libya.

Haftar’s forces, along with the UAE, have also continued to support Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have been widely accused of genocide, Middle East Eye reported in June.

Investigators found training camps for RSF fighters in eastern and southern Libya.  

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