On Friday, the United States (US) Ambassador to Libya, Richard Norland, criticized the human rights violations in Libya. He noted that the best path forward for respecting the human rights of Libyans includes free and fair elections that allow them to choose accountable leadership.
In his tweet on the occasion of International Human Rights Day, Norland said “unfortunately, we continue to see human rights violations, such as the kidnappings of Mansour Atte or Hamza El-Traiki.”
“On the occasion of Human Rights Day, I wanted to re-affirm US support for human rights for Libyans of every background,” Norland noted.
On Tuesday, a Libyan human rights organization reported that a political activist, Hamza El-Traiki, was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen in the western city of Misrata.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in Libya stated that the kidnapping of the activist El-Traiki came after he had published Facebook posts. In his posts he talks about suspicions of corruption by the interim Prime Minister Abdelhamid Al-Dbaiba.
The family of the Libyan activist previously reported that they had lost contact with El-Traiki, noting that he had entered into heated arguments with members of the Al-Dbaiba family after he published posts against the interim Prime Minister’s candidacy.
“The increasing number of illegally kidnapped Libyan activists and politicians, especially in the western cities, is very alarming; especially in light the presence of armed militias and mercenaries in these areas,” the Libya’s human rights organization said.
It is still unknown whether the kidnapping incident was linked to El-Traiki’s dispute with Al-Dbaiba’s family or his supporters.
Notably, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) documented a number of cases of illegal arrests and detention, enforced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings of civilians, officials, journalists, civil society members and human rights activists in Tripoli this year.