Human Rights Watch said that since late August, the military authorities affiliated with the so-called “Libyan National Army” have carried out at least 31 executions following military trials, in the first documented cases of execution in Libya since 2010, according to the organization.
Warning of additional executions
The human rights organization stated today, Wednesday (October 14, 2026), that it had documented executions until September 10, warning that at least 50 other prisoners in the Garnada military prison in the northeast of the country face the imminent risk of execution.
The "Libyan National Army" is also known as the "Libyan Arab Armed Forces" and is based in the east of the country. It represents the military force led by Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar and extends its influence over large areas in eastern and southern Libya.
Criticism of the trial procedures
Human Rights Watch expressed its concern about the implementation of death sentences following military trials, which it said lacked standards of justice, and also included the trial of civilians before military courts. Bassam Khawaja, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said in a report: “The Libyan Arab Armed Forces are putting people to death after secret trials based on confessions allegedly extracted through torture, in courts that the Libyan Supreme Court itself said should not try civilians. Every execution carried out under these circumstances is an irreparable injustice.”
The organization called for an immediate halt to the implementation of death sentences and a freeze on the use of the death penalty.
At the time of publishing this news, there had been no comment from the Libyan authorities regarding the accusations contained in the Human Rights Watch report reported by Reuters.
Official announcements about the implementation of judgments
The Libyan National Army's military prosecutor announced in late August that a firing squad had executed 10 people after convicting them on charges related to murder and terrorism, according to the human rights organization.
The report stated that a number of those executed were arrested in the cities of Derna and Benghazi during or after conflicts between the Libyan National Army and rival armed groups between 2014 and 2018, according to the report issued on Wednesday.
Previous human rights reports
These accusations come weeks after a report by Amnesty International said that military courts in eastern Libya convicted hundreds of civilians in secret trials between 2018 and 2021, and that at least 22 people were sentenced to death during that period.
The organization also pointed out allegations of the use of torture to extract confessions from defendants, while international human rights organizations continued to criticize what they described as trials that lacked standards of justice.
The death penalty and the Libyan division
Human rights organizations say that courts in both eastern and western Libya are still issuing death sentences in various cases, especially murder crimes.
These developments come in light of the political and security division that Libya has witnessed since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011, as the country has been divided for years between competing authorities in the East and West, supported by various forces, armed groups, and foreign governments.
Edited by: Arif Jabo
