Tripoli's Criminal Court has sentenced 17 people to death and two to life in prison after they were convicted of joining ISIS and conducting armed attacks in the northern Libyan city of Sabratha.
Prosecutors said 14 people received lesser sentences in the case that involved a total of 33 defendants, state media reported on Tuesday.
The accused were found guilty of causing the deaths of 53 people, prosecutors said.
The original case involved the referral of 41 people in relation to activities that had “harmed the sanctity of the country and social security”, prosecutors said.
They said the ISIS members had resorted to “violence and armed operations in Sabratha and its surroundings”.
ISIS and other armed groups proliferated in Libya after the fall of Muammar Qaddafi in a Nato-backed uprising that led to his removal and death in 2011.
The militant group entrenched its forces into the port city of Sirte turning it into the largest ISIS stronghold outside of Syria and Iraq. Human Rights Watch documented the unlawful execution of at least 49 people under ISIS rule, through decapitation and shooting.
ISIS would often accuse those it killed of being "spies" or "sorcerers" as a justification for its actions against them and is known to have kidnapped and forcefully disappeared "dozens" of people, HRW said.
The extremist group was largely defeated in Libya in 2016 by forces loyal to the former UN-backed Prime Minister Fayez Al Sarraj but attacks continued until as recently as 2019 in the country.
Analysts said divisions and rivalries between governments in the east and west had created an environment ripe for such armed groups to fester, enabling ISIS to mount attacks against both sides.
Group trials against suspected ISIS members are also continuing in Libya, with the verdicts often resulting in death sentences.
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Yuki Means Happiness
Alison Jean Lester
John Murray
The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed
Power: 620bhp
Torque: 760Nm
Price: Dh898,000
On sale: now
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo hybrid
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Power: 390bhp
Torque: 400Nm
Price: Dh340,000 ($92,579
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
The Al Barzakh Festival takes place on Wednesday and Thursday at 7.30pm in the Red Theatre, NYUAD, Saadiyat Island. Tickets cost Dh105 for adults from platinumlist.net
