At least eight mass graves have been reportedly been discovered in Libya, according to the United Nations.
The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and the United States embassy requested a prompt and transparent inquiry into this crime.
The Mission “notes with horror reports on the discovery of at least eight mass graves in past days, the majority of them in Tarhouna,” it wrote on Twitter.
“International law requires that the authorities conduct prompt, effective, and transparent investigations into all alleged cases of unlawful deaths.”
It also welcomed a decision by the Tripoli-based Minister of Justice to establish a Committee with “wide ministerial powers and overseen by the Attorney General” to look into these mass graves.
It called on its members to “promptly undertake the work aimed at securing the mass graves, identifying the victims, establishing the cause of death and returning the bodies to the next of kin.”
The UNSMIL said it was ready to provide Libya with support as necessary.
The US also stated that it shared UNSMIL’s “horror” and said it “supports immediate efforts by Libyan authorities and international bodies to investigate these intolerable abuses and bring perpetrators to justice.”
Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha, for his part, pledged that security forces “will look into these mass graves to determine the identity of the corps, hand them over to their families, and pursue perpetrators.”
Some of these graves were found in areas between Tarhouna desert, its public hospital, and the headquarters of the General Directorate for Central Security in the city, as well as in an inoperative well in al-Awata area between Tarhouna and Suq al-Khamis.
The LNA didn’t comment on the case, yet a military source in the LNA denied the army’s relation to any of these crimes.
“These crimes, if true, are surely perpetrated by militias and terrorist groups,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.
