Report: Both sides have committed war crimes in Libya
By
the CNN Wire Staff
September 13, 2011 5:16 a.m. EDT
NTC fighters look at one of the four bodies they found buried on September 03, 2011 near Bir Umm al-Khanafis.
Tripoli, Libya (CNN) --
The regime of ousted leader Moammar Gadhafi and the rebel government -- the National Transitional Council -- have both committed war crimes during the conflict in Libya and someone needs to take control to stop abuses from continuing, Amnesty International said in a report released Tuesday.
The 112-page report detailed many examples of abuses by the Gadhafi loyalists, which included "mass killing of prisoners, torture, enforced disappearances, and arbitrary arrests."
But the report also spotlighted what Amnesty called a problem with the National Transition Council in controlling divergent groups of anti-Gadhafi fighters.
The report said rebel fighters have conducted revenge attacks on prisoners and, at one point, conducted house-to-house raids killing people they thought were Gadhafi mercenaries.
"The NTC is facing a difficult task of reining in opposition fighters and vigilante groups responsible for serious human rights abuses, including possible war crimes; but has shown unwillingness to hold them accountable," the report says. "So far, NTC officials have not provided details of any measures taken to address such concerns."
Gadhafi officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the report.
The NTC released a statement about the report Tuesday.
"The Amnesty report is overwhelmingly filled with the horrific abuses and killings by the Gaddafi regime, however there are a small number of incidents involving those opposed to Gaddafi, the NTC strongly condemns any abuses perpetrated by either side," the statement said. "The NTC is firmly committed to upholding human rights and the rule of law, both international and local, the violation of rights no longer has a place in Libya."
Amnesty said it was up to the NTC to fix these issues.
"It is a war crime for any party to a conflict to kill prisoners," Amnesty said. "The onus now is on the NTC to do things differently, end abuses and initiate the human rights reforms that are urgently needed."
The report comes a day after the country's interim leader gave a speech from Tripoli and promised to rebuild Libya's institutions and justice system.
"We aim to establish a state of law, a state of welfare, a state where Islamic Sharia law is the main source of legislation," said Mustafa Abdel Jalil, chairman of the NTC. "This matter requires several things, primarily unity of classes and non division and the soul rejection of hatred and envy -- not taking law into your own hands."
Jalil was justice minister under Gadhafi before defecting to join the opposition in February.
CNN's Ben Wedeman, Salma Abdelaziz, Jill Dougherty, Ingrid Formanek, Kareem Khadder, Ian Lee, Raja Razek and Phil Black contributed to this report.