Libya rulers under pressure to respect rights of captives

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TRIPOLI, Oct 26 (AFP): Libya's new rulers were under growing pressure Wednesday to respect the rights of their prisoners after a captured Muammar Gaddafi was felled by a bullet to his head and their fighters accused of summary executions. The United Nations, human rights groups, the European Union, the United States and others all urged those now in command to respect the rights of their captives, amid raging controversy over the way Gaddafi died and the discovery of apparently-executed fighters loyal to the ousted dictator. In response, the National Transitional Council (NTC) issued a statement late Tuesday saying it attached "great importance" to ensuring the humane treatment of all its detainees and pledging to try those suspected of war crimes. "Under the supervision of the ministry of justice, all cases and detention conditions will be considered and reviewed; fair trials will be guaranteed for those suspected of committing war crimes or criminal acts," it said. The corpses of Gaddafi, his son Mutassim and former defence minister Abu Bakr Yunis Jaber, had been on display in a market freezer in Misrata until their overnight burial Monday that was kept secret to avoid turning the site into a rallying point for Gaddafi supporters. The burials took place as the circumstances of the death of Gaddafi, shot dead after he was taken alive last Thursday during the fall of his hometown Sirte, raised questions over the future rule of law and fears for the fate of other captives. A UN human rights team set up to investigate rights violations in the north African country said the NTC and armed groups should ensure that all prisoners are treated in line with international norms. "In particular, I call on all the armed forces to avoid any act of reprisal and arbitrary repression against both Libyans and foreigners," Philippe Kirsch, head of the International Commission of Inquiry on Libya, said in a statement. The commission also welcomed decisions by the new rulers to probe the deaths "of certain detainees" -- an apparent reference to Gaddafi. For some, the inquiry would already be too late. The discovery of 53 decaying bodies in Sirte, Gaddafi's final bastion, suggests some of his loyalists were executed, Human Rights Watch (HRW) charged. "We found 53 decomposing bodies, apparently Gaddafi supporters, at an abandoned hotel in Sirte," said Peter Bouckaert of HRW, who investigated the killings at the Hotel Mahari, an area held by anti-Gaddafi fighters "before the killings took place."