BENGHAZI: Leading international rights groups on Thursday condemned a video that recently went viral on social media purportedly showing a man shooting and killing 10 people at close range in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, near the site of this week’s massive twin car bombing.
Human Rights Watch said the killings shown in the video would “constitute war crimes” while Amnesty International said the video shows “the horrifying consequences of the rampant impunity that exists in Libya.”
In the video, the shooter, a man in military uniform, is seen standing before 10 blindfolded people in blue jumpsuits who are on their knees, hands tied behind their backs. He then opens fire with a machine gun, shooting each man in the head.
HRW and Amnesty said the shooter appears to be Libyan commander Mahmoud Al-Warfalli, wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes since August 2017. The Associated Press could not independently confirm the man’s identity.
Earlier, the UN mission in Libya expressed its alarm over the killings and said the ICC has “documented at least 5 similar cases, in 2017 alone, carried out or ordered by Al-Warfalli.” Along with Amnesty, the UN mission in Libya demanded the immediate handover of Al-Warfalli.
Al-Warfalli heads an anti-terrorism unit under Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, who commands Libya’s self-styled national army based in the country’s east and loyal to the government there. Haftar is at odds with Libya’s UN-backed government based in the capital, Tripoli.
Libya descended into chaos after the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed dictator Muammar Qaddafi. The country is currently split between rival governments and parliaments based in the western and eastern regions, each backed by different militias and tribes.
On Tuesday night, a twin car bombing near a mosque in Benghazi’s Salmani neighborhood killed at least 33 people. No group claimed responsibility for the attack but many believe it bore the hallmarks of the Daesh group, which had been largely driven out of Libya.
Benghazi remains a trouble spot, with occasional bombings and attacks. The city has also seen fighting between forces loyal to Haftar and Islamist militia opponents.
Rights groups condemn video purported to show Libya killings
Rights groups condemn video purported to show Libya killings
El-Sisi says Egypt in ‘state of near-emergency’ as war threatens economy
- El-Sisi said “the current crisis might have some repercussions on prices“
- He said Egypt was attempting “sincere and honest mediation efforts to stop the war”
CAIRO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said Thursday his country was in an economic “state of near-emergency” as a result of the Middle East war, warning of runaway inflation.
The Arab world’s most populous nation has not been physically impacted by the US and Israeli war with Iran, which has seen strikes on Egypt’s wealthy Gulf allies and paralyzed trade through the vital Strait of Hormuz.
But by the close of business Thursday, the Egyptian pound had fallen to an eight-month low against the US dollar, trading at 50.2 to the USD amid reports of short-term investment outflows.
Egypt’s import-dependent economy has proven highly sensitive to fluctuations in the currency, which has lost two-thirds of its value since 2022.
At a military academy event, El-Sisi said “the current crisis might have some repercussions on prices,” warning that price-gouging traders could be tried “in military courts,” according to a statement from his spokesman.
Over the weekend, El-Sisi had warned the war could spell trouble for the Suez Canal, the region’s other vital waterway besides the Strait of Hormuz and a key source of foreign currency for Egypt.
Major shipping companies have already directed traffic away from the region, rerouting around the Cape of Good Hope off the tip of southern Africa.
El-Sisi said Thursday that Egypt was attempting “sincere and honest mediation efforts to stop the war, as its continuation will have a hefty toll.”
Cairo has in the past hosted nuclear talks between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency, and is a guarantor of the US-brokered Gaza peace deal between Israel and Hamas.
But Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Thursday his country was “not asking for a ceasefire” or negotiations with the US.
