Libya: Barriers to Justice

Zawya

02-06-2025

Libya's fragmented justice sector is marred by serious due process violations and laws that violate international norms. The judiciary is unwilling and unable to meaningfully investigate serious crimes.
Violations of the magnitude and persistence documented in Libya reflect the chronic shortcomings of Libya's judicial institutions. Tackling structural institutional dysfunction, including within the judiciary, is a prerequisite to overcoming impunity.
Libya should pursue comprehensive reform, respect fair trial standards and due process rights, assume control over all detention facilities, release all those held arbitrarily, end military trial of civilians, and arrest and surrender suspects wanted by the International Criminal Court.
Libya's fragmented justice sector is suppressing fundamental freedoms and obstructing accountability for abuses, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Libyan authorities should urgently pursue sweeping judicial overhaul, reform repressive legislation, and arrest and surrender suspects on its territory wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The 39-page report, ' Injustice By Design: Need for Comprehensive Justice Reform in Libya,' documents how outdated and repressive legislation, lack of fair trial rights, and rampant due process violations urgently need reform. Unsafe conditions for judicial staff, abusive military trials of civilians, and inhumane conditions in prisons compound abuses and entrench impunity.
'By failing to address long-standing judicial reform needs, Libyan authorities are turning their back on justice and letting impunity prevail,' said Hanan Salah, associate Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. 'Recent deadly militia clashes in the capital, Tripoli, and the lack of adequate justice mechanisms to address abuses and violations should be a wake-up call for urgent reform.'
Libya's tumultuous political transition remains stalled as two rival entities compete for control of territory and resources amid rising repression and armed confrontations. The Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU) together with affiliated armed groups and security agencies control most of western Libya, while the Libyan Arab Armed Forces, their affiliated security apparatuses, and an administrative entity control eastern and southern Libya. The Presidential Council operates out of Tripoli and is backed by armed groups.
Recent violence and the discovery of a new mass grave underscore the need for judicial accountability, Human Rights Watch said. Heavy fighting between armed groups and quasi-state forces in the Libyan capital between May 12-14, 2025, resulted in civilian casualties and the destruction of homes and cars. After the clashes, GNU authorities said they discovered 53 unidentified bodies in a hospital morgue and a previously unknown unmarked grave site containing at least nine unidentified bodies of men and women.
Human Rights Watch found that Libya's justice sector is marked by fragmentation and deep political polarization. The judiciary is unwilling and unable to conduct meaningful investigations into serious violations and international crimes.
Key judicial institutions, including the Ministry of Justice, the Supreme Judicial Council, the Supreme Court, and the Prosecutor General's Office, are in deep conflict. A newly established Supreme Constitutional Court in Benghazi may compete with the Supreme Court in Tripoli, risking a constitutional crisis and conflicting rulings.
Libya's penal code and related legislation are outdated, do not address international crimes, and require comprehensive reform to bring them in line with its international human rights obligations. Domestic legislation includes repressive and abusive provisions from the era of former leader Muammar Gaddafi, including laws providing for the death penalty, lashings, and amputation of limbs. Many laws issued since 2011 limit freedoms and contravene international law.
Fair trial and due process rights are not respected in Libya. Military courts in the east and west continue to prosecute civilians under the guise of 'terrorism' related crimes. Lawyers face barriers to meeting with clients, a lack of notice around hearing schedules, and a lack of access to court documents. Video hearings are increasingly common and undermine detainees' rights when used exclusively.
Both Libyans and non-Libyans are routinely held in long-term arbitrary detention. Armed groups and quasi-state forces control detention facilities notorious for inhumane conditions for migrants, asylum seekers, and Libyan nationals alike. They do not always comply with release orders and court summonses of detainees. Torture, ill-treatment, and overcrowding are rampant and well-documented.
Legal professionals, defendants, and witnesses in Libya have faced attacks, intimidation, and harassment as the authorities do not provide them with adequate physical protection.
The United Nations Security Council referred the situation in Libya to the ICC prosecutor in 2011 and the Office of the Prosecutor opened an investigation into serious international crimes committed in Libya since February 15, 2011. Eight people subject to public ICC arrest warrants remain at large.
Libyan authorities should cooperate with the ICC, including by promptly arresting and surrendering to the court everyone on Libyan territory subject to ICC arrest warrants, such as Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and Osama Elmasry Njeem, both wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In November 2023, the ICC prosecutor announced that his office planned 'to complete investigative activities' in the Libya situation by the end of 2025. On May 12, 2025, the Libyan government submitted a declaration to the ICC accepting the court's jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed in Libya from 2011 to the end of 2027. The Office of the Prosecutor should reassess the time frame for completion to ensure the adequate delivery of its mandate. The office should also engage with Libyan authorities to strengthen the domestic criminal justice system by addressing structural deficiencies, Human Rights Watch said.
International law requires states to provide a fair hearing before a legally constituted, competent, independent, and impartial judicial body, a trial without undue delay, and a right to appeal to a higher judicial body. Defendants must be granted full access to a lawyer, adequate time to prepare their defense, and the ability to challenge evidence and arguments against them.
Detention is subject to strict due process and authorities must promptly charge or release a person, promptly present them before a judge to rule on the legality of detention, and provide regular opportunities to challenge the lawfulness of detention. Trying civilians in military courts is incompatible with the right to a fair trial under international human rights law.
Libyan authorities should repeal all laws that violate international law and Libya's Constitutional Declaration. They should lay the groundwork for comprehensive legislative reform in consultation with legal scholars and domestic and international civic groups, amend the penal code to criminalize grave international crimes, ensure fair trial standards and due process rights, assume genuine control over all detention facilities, ensure humane treatment of detainees, release all those held in arbitrary detention, and end military trials of civilians.
'Violations of the magnitude and persistence we are documenting in Libya do not occur in a vacuum, but rather reflect the chronic shortcomings of Libya's judicial institutions,' Salah said. 'Tackling the structural institutional dysfunction, including within the judiciary, is a prerequisite to overcoming impunity.'
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Human Rights Watch (HRW).