News: CAIRO (Reuters) – The U.N. Libya mission expressed on Tuesday its alarm over footage circulating on social media featuring “brutal torture and ill-treatment” of detainees at the Gernada detention facility in eastern Libya. Reuters was not able to independently verify the location or date of the footage; however, architectural details seen in the videos, including the type of tiles on the floor, wall painting, and cell bars, are consistent with file imagery of the prison from corroborating reports.
“As UNSMIL continues to verify the circumstances of the circulated footage, it strongly condemns these acts that constitute serious violations of international human rights law,” the U.N. mission said. The footage aligns with documented patterns of human rights violations in detention facilities across Libya.
The U.N. mission has called for an immediate investigation into the accusations, adding that it is coordinating with the General Command of the Libyan National Army for “unrestricted access to UNSMIL’s human rights officers and other independent monitors to the Gernada facility as well as other detention centres under their control.” There was no immediate comment from Libyan authorities regarding the videos or the U.N. report.
The North African country has plunged into chaos and lawlessness since the toppling of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011.