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Babylon & Beyond

LIBYA: U.N. Human Rights Council condemns violence, votes to suspend Libya

By Carol J. Williamswriter 
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World diplomats gathered in Geneva for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council condemned the violence unleashed by Libyan strongman Moammar Kadafi against anti-government unrest and voted to suspend Libya from the rights body.

The 47-member council also called for investigations into atrocities allegedly committed by the Kadafi regime as it has confronted mass protests over the past 10 days demanding an end to his 41-year autocratic reign.

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It was unclear what, if any, influence the world body’s censure would have on the deteriorating human rights situation in Libya. Kadafi loyalists attacked protesters in Tripoli with renewed intensity after Friday prayers, killing at least four, according to news agency reports.

Kadafi appeared on state-run television while the council was meeting in the Swiss city and called on supporters to defend the country against opponents he has denounced as ‘rats’ and stooges of terrorist kingpin Osama bin Laden.

--Carol J. Williams

Babylon & Beyond
Carol J. Williams

Carol J. Williams is former senior international affairs writer for the Los Angeles Times. A foreign correspondent for 25 years, she has won five Overseas Press Club awards, two Sigma Delta Chi citations and was a 1993 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in international reporting. She has served as Times bureau chief in Budapest, Vienna, Moscow, Berlin and the Caribbean. A native of Rhode Island and irrepressible Red Sox fan, Williams speaks Russian, German, French and Spanish, and has reported from more than 80 countries. She left The Times in 2015.

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