Amnesty International urged the self-proclaimed Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF) on Thursday to reveal the whereabouts of former defense minister Al-Mahdi al-Barghathi and 18 of his relatives and supporters who were abducted in Benghazi a year ago.
Al-Mahdi al-Barghathi, who became minister of defense in 2016, served in the post until 2018, and strongly condemned the LAAF assault on Tripoli through 2019-2020. On October 7, 2023, after his return to his hometown of Benghazi, he and 38 of his relatives and supporters were kidnapped and taken hostage by LAAF affiliates. Some of them have been released, and six are reported dead, including the son of al-Barghathi, but the fate and whereabouts of the other 19 are still unknown. There are suspicions that some of them may have been extrajudicially executed.
Al-Mahdi al-Barghathi has also been reported to be dead. However, his family claims they never received his body and demands that the LAAF disclose the burial site and identify his body through DNA testing.
According to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (ICPPED), enforced disappearance is defined as the arrest, detention, abduction or any other form of deprivation of liberty under the control of a state, as well as the concealment of information about the fate of the disappeared person. Each state party to the convention has the obligation to investigate (Art. 3) and take the necessary measures to hold criminally responsible those who commit, participate in or are responsible for an enforced disappearance (Art. 6). State parties’ legislation must recognize enforced disappearance as a crime (Art. 4) and establish penalties appropriate to the crime, taking into account their gravity (Art. 7).
The Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF), led by Khalifa Haftar, have formed an unrecognized power bloc that claims control over Libya’s sovereign institutions and economy. As it is performing governmental duties, it must comply with international humanitarian and human rights law.
