Baaio to the mission and rights organisations: Where were you when terrorists slaughtered the innocent?
Libya – The head of the Libyan Media Foundation, Mohamed Baaio, issued a sharp response to a United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) statement on the carrying out of death sentences handed down by a military court affiliated with the General Command. He recalled crimes by terrorist groups against Libyans, asked where the mission and rights organisations had been when those crimes were committed, and insisted that “retribution is life.”
In a post on his personal Facebook page, Baaio recalled what he called a “black time” in Benghazi, Derna, Sirte, Brak al-Shati, Ajdabiya and Al-Qubba, when, in his words, “terrorists’ daggers slaughtered the innocent.”
He pointed to civilian bodies hung at the Zaafaran gate on the entrance to Sirte, and to courts set up before the Companions’ shrine with no law, judges, prosecution or lawyers. He also cited the targeting of army, police and security officers with sticky bombs, and the killing of women from the Al-Harir family by terrorists’ bombs, according to his post.
Baaio named Bouzheib and Al-Ashmawi, along with gunmen who came from several countries, saying they occupied Derna and “turned it into a hell for the living and a haven for oblivion.”
That era would not have ended, he said, without the “epic of Dignity,” praising its commander, its heroes and its martyrs. He stressed the need to remember those events and to be ready to stop them happening again, saying: “And our hands stay on the trigger so it does not return.”
Baaio put direct questions to the mission and Amnesty International: “Where was the UN support mission, and where was Amnesty International?” He also criticised what he called “sham human-rights shops.”
He also attacked media voices he labelled “today’s loud liars,” asking where they had stood during the crimes he recalled in his post.
UNSMIL had earlier expressed “deep concern” over what it said was the execution of more than 30 people in eastern Libya in recent weeks, and called on the authorities to immediately halt any further executions.
It said it had held intensive contacts with the relevant authorities at political and technical levels, urging them to suspend the carrying out of sentences and to subject the cases to a careful, credible review in line with Libya’s human-rights obligations. It voiced regret that executions had continued despite those efforts.
The mission urged the authorities in eastern Libya to engage with its human-rights team to discuss and review procedures so that, according to its statement, fair-trial standards and due process are met, while recognising the rights of victims and their families.
UNSMIL cited an Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights statement of 26 August, saying the executions had ended a de facto moratorium on the death penalty lasting about 15 years, and that resuming them raised human-rights concerns.
The mission acknowledged the Libyan authorities’ responsibility to protect citizens and ensure accountability for terrorist acts and serious crimes, and the suffering of victims and their families’ aspiration to justice. It said it stood ready to work with the authorities concerned.
Closing his reply, Baaio directed a harsh message at those he had criticised: “Be silent, you who have no shame, for retribution is life,” adding: “That is God’s command, in which those of understanding believe.”
