LIBYA: Roughly 300 bodies found around Sirte, many executed, are being buried at a mass grave near the town as the NTC vow to look into allegations of extra-judicial killings and punish any perpetrators

Record ID: 572948

  • Title: LIBYA: Roughly 300 bodies found around Sirte, many executed, are being buried at a mass grave near the town as the NTC vow to look into allegations of extra-judicial killings and punish any perpetrators
  • Date: 26th October 2011
  • Summary: SIRTE, LIBYA (OCTOBER 25, 2011) (REUTERS) CEMETERY WITH PEOPLE LOADING BODIES INTO BULLDOZER IN THE BACKGROUND PEOPLE LOADING BODIES INTO BULLDOZER BODIES IN PLASTIC BAGS ON THE GROUND VARIOUS OF PEOPLE LOADING BODIES VARIOUS OF BULLDOZER LEAVING EXCAVATOR BULLDOZER DRIVING IN THE DIRECTION OF MASS GRAVE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) UNIDENTIFIED CITIZEN OF SIRTE, SAYING "There are 300 bodies here, we found them in more than one place. Most of them are residents of Sirte, some are from the Mahari hotel who we found with their hands tied and shot in the head (pointing to forehead), most of them were wounded." MASS GRAVE FILLED WITH DOZENS OF BODIES COVERED IN PLASTIC MEN UNLOADING BODIES FROM BULLDOZER A MAN MAKING NOTES IN A NOTEPAD AND WRITING ON THE WALL PEOPLE DUMPING BODIES INTO A TRENCH NEWLY DUG EMPTY TRENCH CEMETERY WITH BODIES ON THE GROUND TRIPOLI, LIBYA (OCTOBER 25, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) NATIONAL TRANSITIONAL COUNCIL MILITARY SPOKESMAN, AHMED BANI, SAYING: (In response to question about alleged executions of pro-Gaddafi prisoners) "I assure you that we will not turn a blind eye or forgive any crime that might have been committed during this conflict." JOURNALIST ASKING QUESTION (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) NATIONAL TRANSITIONAL COUNCIL MILITARY SPOKESMAN ,AHMED BANI, SAYING: "As for the number of prisoners, we are now counting them because there are many prisons and they are placed in different prisons. Therefore, I cannot give you a specific number at this moment until we compile them all in one location." JOURNALISTS AT NEWS CONFERENCE END OF NEWS CONFERENCE MISRATA, LIBYA (OCTOBER 25, 2011) (REUTERS) WIDE OF THE ''INVADERS CEMETERY'' IN MISRATA WHERE GADDAFI LOYALISTS KILLED IN THE CONFLICT ARE BURIED GRAVESTONES NUMBERS ON THE GRAVE VISITORS AT THE CEMETERY (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MISRATA RESIDENT VISITING CEMETERY, FATHALLAH AHMED AL-MOTORDI, SAYING "This is a good way and it is 100 percent. At the start of the war, there was not a system like this where it was numbered and there was no system. But now they get registered and for those who are unknown, they take photos of them (bodies) and keep it for the time, maybe one day their father or relatives comes looking for them. It is the Islamic way." WOOD PANEL ON GRAVESTONE WITH NUMBER AND WRITING MORE OF GRAVES VISITORS APPROACHING GRAVES GRAVES/MAN AND BOY WALKING PAST (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MISRATA RESIDENT VISITING CEMETERY, MOHAMMAD ZOGHEIBY, SAYING "This is a cemetery for the people who tried to kill the Libyan people, the forces and the mercenaries of the tyrant Gaddafi, these are their graves. This is the fate of anyone who tries to crackdown on the will of the Libyan people." MORE OF VISITORS COFFINS MAN PUTTING COFFIN TOGETHER WIDE OF CEMETERY
  • Embargoed: 10th November 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Libya, Libya
  • Country: Libya
  • Topics: Conflict
  • Reuters ID: LVA4BZ8MOFEZW43PCL49OP30F9A5
  • Story Text: Ahmed Bani, the military spokesman for Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC) on Tuesday (October 25) vowed to investigate alleged executions of pro-Gaddafi fighters, as reports of abuses apparently committed by both sides in the civil war risked impeding reconciliation efforts.
    Sirte locals, who have returned to the city after fleeing violence, carried out the operation of organising the mass burial on the edges of the main cemetery Bin Hammal.
    Residents could be seen loading at least 100 bodies in plastic bags onto a bulldozer, ready for placing in trenches.
    "There are 300 bodies here, we found them in more than one place. Most of them are residents of Sirte, some are from the Mahari hotel who we found with their hands tied and shot in the head (pointing to forehead), most of them were wounded," said one local resident.
    The bodies were believed to be of both regime loyalists and anti-Gaddafi protesters killed during recent violent unrest.
    It was not clear if all of the bodies had been identified or not.
    The bodies, scattered across the city, were found recently after fighting ended in the country following the death of Muammar Gaddafi.
    New York-based Human Rights Watch urged the NTC on Monday (October 24) to probe an "apparent mass execution" of 53 people, apparently Gaddafi loyalists, whom it found dead, some with their hands bound, at a Sirte hotel.
    Speaking at a news conference in Tripoli, Ahmed Bani vowed the NTC would be watchful of any abuses carried out during battle and said misconduct would not go unpunished.
    "I assure you that we will not turn a blind eye or forgive any crime that might have been committed during this conflict," he said.
    The International Committee of the Red Cross has visited centres holding more than 7,000 detainees and called for access to all those arrested at the fall of Gaddafi's home town of Sirte.
    Similarly more than 600 graves could be seen marked at the Invaders Cemetery in Misrata on Tuesday. Locals said those buried at the site were mercenaries and loyalists to the former leader Muammar Gaddafi.
    All of the graves were numbered, but some were inscribed with names.
    For the people of Misrata who endured more than three months of conflict with Gaddafi forces in March, the cemetery offers a sense of victory.
    The cemetery lies on the Misrata coastal road and day after day, more visitors are arriving, sometimes with their children, to view rows of graves that they say belonged to people who tried to kill them and destroy their will.
    "At the start of the war, there was not a system like this where it was numbered and there was no system. But now they get registered and for those who are unknown, they take photos of them (bodies) and keep it for the time, maybe one day their father or relatives comes looking for them. It is the Islamic way," said one visitor, a resident of Misrata.
    The cemetery was built early in the conflict in May and the bodies of Gaddafi militants have been buried there since.
    After the fall of Sirte and the death of Gaddafi himself, the cemetery has taken on new meaning for the locals who fiercely hate their former leader.
    "This is a cemetery for the people who tried to kill the Libyan people, the forces and the mercenaries of the tyrant Gaddafi, these are their graves. This is the fate of anyone who tries to suppress the will of the people," said one man, Mohammed Al-Zogheibi, who was visiting the cemetery with his two boys.
    Later on, Mohammad taught his children how to assemble the wooden coffins in which the bodies are kept.
    Not far off, more visitors were trickling to view the site.
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