LIBYA: Human Rights activists call for embargos, investigation, U.N. intervention

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At least 62 people have been killed in clashes in the Libyan capital in the past two days, Human Rights Watch said in a statement released Tuesday, citing hospital sources.

‘While Human Rights Watch is unable to verify these reports, sources from two hospitals in Tripoli said at least 62 bodies, victims of clashes, had been brought into their morgues since February 20,’ the New York-based group said in its statement. One man reached in Tripoli told Human Rights Watch that he could see men driving around shooting at passers-by in the Ben Ashour neighborhood.

Witnesses in the Fashloum area of Tripoli reported ‘random’ shooting by government forces Monday night, according to the statement. One woman said she heard gunfire throughout the night in Fashloum. She told Human Rights Watch, ‘They [pro-government forces] have people with guns roaming the streets, they were shooting randomly when they passed near our house.’

A second protester in Tripoli told Human Rights Watch that she had heard gunfire all through the night Monday in Tajoura.

Another protester from the capital said, ‘If anyone went to pick a body up, they would also get shot. People living near Green Square reported that they saw bodies lying on the square and people unable to pick them up.’

Many phone lines and cellphone connections have been severed in Libya since the unrest began, and much of the country’s Internet access is blocked, according to Twitter and blog posts. However, Human Rights Watch interviewed a protester in Tripoli via the Skype online phone service Monday night who described what he saw: ‘The hospitals in Tripoli ran out of the blood yesterday evening. At the beginning of the protest a Land Cruiser drove past firing at people in front of it randomly. I can hear the sound of gunfire and large explosions. We saw loads of Land Cruisers full of masked men in military uniforms and heavy machine guns heading to where the huge protests are downtown. Men wearing civilian clothing in the square were shooting at us. We heard later that Abu Salim hospital was broken into. I saw guys taking off their shirts and exposing their chests to the snipers. I’ve never seen anything like it, I was very ashamed to hide under a tree. but I am human.’

On Sunday, security forces violently dispersed a protest by a group of lawyers, judges, doctors, and other professionals in front of the Tripoli courthouse, arresting some of the participants, one protester whose father was arrested told Human Rights Watch.

Human Rights Watch called on foreign governments to denounce the government crackdown in Libya, place an embargo on arms and security shipments to the country, target sanctions against the Libyan leadership ‘as long as the atrocities continue,’ ensure a ‘comprehensive, independent, and speedy investigation into any crimes committed,’ and call for an emergency special session by the United Nations Security Council.

‘Anyone, including Moammar Kadafi, ordering or carrying out atrocities should know they will be held individually accountable for their actions, including unlawful killings of protesters,’ said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. ‘We fear the death toll will rise much higher unless Gaddafi ends his bloody attempts to suppress dissent. He should call his forces including mercenaries off immediately.’

-- Molly Hennessy-Fiske