Tripoli, Sept 13 (ANI): Amnesty International has released a report that accuses Libyan rebels fighting to topple Muammar Gaddafi of unlawful killings and torture.
Following three months of investigation in Libya, the organization has concluded that although Gaddafi forces' crimes were greater, and might have amounted to crimes against humanity, the crimes of the rebels were not insignificant, CBS News reports.
"Members and supporters of the opposition, loosely structured under the leadership of the National Transitional Council (NTC) ... have also committed human rights abuses, in some cases amounting to war crimes, albeit on a smaller scale," the Amnesty report said.
It also said opposition supporters "unlawfully killed" over a dozen Gaddafi loyalists and security officials between April and early July. And just after the rebels took control of eastern Libya, the report said, angry groups of rebel supporters "shot, hanged and otherwise killed through lynching" dozens of captured soldiers and suspected mercenaries, with impunity.
However, the report was refuted by Mohammed al-Alagi, the Justice Minister for Libya's transitional authorities, saying that describing rebel actions as war crimes was wrong.
" They are not the military, they are only ordinary people, " al-Alagi said. While rebels have made mistakes, he aknowledged, they cannot be described as "war crimes at all." (ANI)
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