Libya: Detainees left to suffocate in crowded metal containers
Libya: Detainees left to suffocate in crowded metal containers
Pro al-Gaddafi forces left 19 detainees to die of suffocation
while locked inside metal containers in the sweltering June heat
in north-western Libya, Amnesty International has discovered.
Three survivors described how al-Gaddafi loyalists tortured them
and then imprisoned them along with 26 others in two cramped
cargo containers on 6 June at a construction site in al-Khums,
120 km east of Tripoli.  The detainees endured temperatures
above 40 degrees Celsius and drank their own sweat and urine
when the limited water supply ran out. Their captors shouted
“rats, shut up”, ignoring their cries for help.  This is the
first report of the June incident, because al-Khums was off-
limits to independent reporting until it fell under the control
of the National Transitional Council (NTC) on 21 August.  “This
is obviously appalling and inhumane treatment of a group of
people who were mostly ci