Gaddafi's Death Ushers in a New Era

Libya's Government Should Focus on Rights, Rule of Law

The end of Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year rule over Libya offers a unique opportunity for the country to end an extraordinarily long era of human rights abuses. Today’s media reports say forces of the National Transitional Council or a NATO air strike wounded Gaddafi during fighting in his hometown of Sirte. He died soon after, the sources said.
Stretching over 42 years, the Gaddafi era accumulated an appalling human rights record, at home and abroad. The Libyan people now deserve to see justice for the many crimes committed on Gaddafi’s watch, and to see other high-level officials implicated in abuses face trial.
Gaddafi’s Libya was one of the region’s most thorough police states. Human Rights Watch has documented disappearances, politically-motivated arrests, and torture, as well as the near-total repression of freedom of expression and association.
Libya’s new authorities should seek independent investigations into the most serious crimes. The 1996 killing of an estimated 1,200 prisoners at Abu Salim – where Gaddafi locked up political prisoners – is one of the most notorious episodes.
After the September 11 attacks, Gaddafi became an ally of the US and European governments, whose intelligence services rendered terrorism suspects to Libya, despite the country’s notorious torture record.