At least seven civilians,
including three children, died in the joint Egyptian/Libyan airstrikes
on the eastern city of Derna on February 16, 2015. Libya and Egypt
should conduct speedy and transparent investigations into the deaths.
Indiscriminate attacks that cannot or do not distinguish between
military targets and civilians or civilian infrastructure violate the
laws of war. Serious violations of the laws of war, carried out with
criminal intent, may be war crimes.
Egypt said on February 16 that it had carried out air strikes targeting extremist militants in Derna. This followed the
mass killing
of 21 Coptic Christians, including 20 Egyptians on February 15 by
militants who pledged allegiance to the extremist group Islamic State
(also known as ISIS).
Libya’s army chief of staff issued a
statement
confirming its coordination with Egypt in conducting the Derna air
strikes. Forces loyal to the internationally recognized government,
based out of eastern Libya, are engaged in an armed conflict with
militant groups, including groups that pledged allegiance to ISIS, in
the eastern region.
“Egypt and Libya say they are fighting extremists affiliated with ISIS,
but that doesn’t give them a free hand to kill civilians,” said
Sarah Leah Whitson,
Middle East and North Africa director. “All parties to the conflicts in
Libya need to do their utmost to spare civilians and should immediately
investigate any civilian casualties.”
Human Rights Watch documented seven civilian deaths that appear to be a
result of the airstrikes on Derna, and interviewed families of six of
the victims by phone, all killed in their homes in the eastern city’s
Al-Shiha neighborhood.
The dead included a mother, Rabiha al-Mansouri,
and three of her four children, Afraa, Zakaria, and Huthaifa
al-Karshoufi, who died when a missile hit their home. Others were Osama
al-Shteiwi, a student who was watching from the roof of his home, who
was hit by shrapnel; Attia Bousheiba al-Shaari, who died after the front
of his house collapsed on him; and Hanan Faraj al-Drissi, who was on
the roof of her home when a missile struck the street in front.
Residents told Human Rights Watch that the air strikes wounded at least
20 other civilians, some of whom were in intensive care at al-Hreish
hospital.
Family members interviewed by Human Rights Watch said military plane
over-flights and air strikes started at about 5 a.m., and many residents
went onto their rooftops to observe them. All of the interviewees said
that two missiles struck their neighborhood between 7 and 7:30 a.m. and
that none of the homes that were hit were being used to store weapons or
ammunition by local militiamen.
The head of Libya’s air force, which operates under the authority of
Libya’s internationally recognized government based in eastern Libya,
said in an
interview
that his forces had carried out “air strikes on houses in the city of
Derna, which were the headquarters for ground launchers and weapons for
the organization Daesh [ISIS],” and that the air strikes killed between
40 and 50 militants. He made no reference to civilian casualties.
Attacks targeting civilians or civilian property, and attacks that do
not or cannot discriminate between civilians and fighters, are
prohibited under the international laws governing the conduct of armed
conflicts.
Attacks that are intended to punish civilians, including
family members of a commander or fighter from an opposing faction,
constitute collective punishment, which is also unlawful. Attacks that
cause extensive and disproportionate destruction of property when
carried out unlawfully and wantonly are also prohibited, Human Rights
Watch said.
All parties to the conflicts in Libya, which now includes Egypt, are
required to abide by the laws of war, which require them to take all
feasible steps to protect civilians. Attacking parties are required by
international law to take into account the risk to civilians that an
attack would pose even if opposing forces are present and have situated
military targets within or near populated areas.
Certain serious violations of the laws of war, when committed with
criminal intent, are war crimes. Those who commit, order, assist, or
have command responsibility for war crimes are subject to prosecution by
domestic courts or the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has
jurisdiction over war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide
committed in Libya since February 15, 2011, under United Nations
Security Council Resolution 1970.
ICC investigations in Libya remain limited to cases from 2011 involving
officials of the former Gaddafi government. Despite ongoing serious
crimes that may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity in
Libya, the prosecutor of the ICC has not brought any additional cases
and has not announced any new investigations. The prosecutor should
examine reports of serious ongoing crimes in Libya, with a view to
determining whether further investigations are warranted.
The UN Human Rights Council should establish an investigative mechanism
or appoint a special rapporteur on Libya to investigate all serious and
widespread human rights violations in Libya, which may constitute
possible war crimes and crimes against humanity, with the view to
ensuring that those responsible for serious crimes are held accountable.
In 2014 the UN Security Council adopted resolution 2174, which threatens
those responsible for serious crimes with sanctions, including travel
bans and asset freezes, but the Security Council has yet to implement it
effectively. The resolution also reiterated that individuals and groups
were bound by an existing arms embargo, as stipulated in Security
Council Resolution 1970 (2011.)
“Unless the Security Council acts quickly and decisively to hold those
responsible for civilian deaths and injuries accountable and to
reinforce the existing arms embargo, there is a risk that the situation
will deteriorate further and result in many more civilian deaths,”
Whitson said.
ARMED GROUPS
Several armed groups in eastern Libya publicly pledged allegiance to
ISIS in November 2014, declared that they had established “Barqa
Province,” and
conducted
public extrajudicial executions and floggings.
At least two other armed
groups have claimed affiliation to ISIS in what they refer to as the
Tripoli and Fezzan Provinces, respectively western Libya – including the
capital, and southern Libya. These armed groups have claimed
responsibility for several attacks, including the apparent mass killing
of 21 Christian Copts near Sirte, and a January 27, 2015 attack on a
luxury hotel in Tripoli that killed nine civilians.
On February 20, armed groups that claim to be affiliated to ISIS
committed twin suicide attacks in the eastern town of al-Gubba, 40
kilometers from Derna, killing at least 44 people and injuring dozens
more. A statement released by the “Barqa Province of IS” said the
attacks were in retaliation for the Derna airstrikes.
The current armed conflicts, which began in May 2014 in eastern Libya
and spread to the west two months later, has left the country with two
rival governments: an internationally recognized government based in
al-Bayda in the east, and a rival, self-proclaimed government in Tripoli
that controls much of western Libya.
Both claim to be the legitimate
government of all of Libya, but neither has been able to exert control
nationally. Meanwhile, Libya’s institutions, particularly its judiciary,
are at near-collapse, with courts and prosecutors in most cities no
longer functioning because of direct targeting of judges and prosecutors
by militants, and general insecurity.
EVIDENCE FROM WITNESSES AND FAMILY MEMBERS
Al-Karshoufi Family
Human Rights Watch spoke by phone with two members of the al-Kharshoufi
family on February 18 and February 20, 2015. They said a rocket struck
the family home on the morning of February 16, immediately killing
Rabiha al-Mansouri and three of her four children – ages 2, 6, and 7.
Al-Mansouri’s husband and their 8-year-old son survived. One relative
told Human Rights Watch: “The house was nearly destroyed after one of
the missiles landed straight on it at around 7 a.m. It’s a big
four-story family home, and the ceiling, which is very heavy, landed
where the mother and her four children were staying.”
Another relative told Human Rights Watch that the bombing almost totally
destroyed 16 other houses in the same neighborhood and caused some
damage to another 32 homes.
Al-Shteiwi Family
A brother of Osama al-Shteiwi, who spoke to Human Rights Watch by phone
on February 20, said he saw Osama killed instantly when shrapnel hit his
head as he was on the roof of their home trying to film the air
strikes, which had begun at about 5a.m. He said Osama had returned to
Libya from Turkey, where he was an engineering student, on February 2,
when his scholarship funds ran out.
“My brother and I had been up since the early morning when we first
heard over-flights of military airplanes and air strikes in the
distance,” the brother said. “Just seconds before the missiles landed on
our house, I shouted to my brother to come back indoors, but it was too
late. Shrapnel hit him on the head and severed it from his body. He
died instantly.”
Osama’s brother said he had not heard any anti-aircraft
weapons fired from their neighborhood although “there was a lot of
shooting that day, from all over the city,” including small arms fire
from their neighborhood.
Human Rights Watch saw a copy of Osama’s burial certificate, which
stated the cause of death and listed the injuries he had sustained.
Al-Shaari Family
The son of Attia Bousheiba al-Shaari, who was at the family home the day
of the air strike, told Human Rights Watch in a call on February 20
that his father was in front of their house to warm up the car sometime
between 7 and 7:30 a.m., waiting for one of his daughters, when a
missile struck in front of the home.
“We had been hearing air strikes since the early morning in the city and
we heard them coming closer, but our home is in a residential area, we
never expected anything like this to happen,” the son said.
“I cannot
begin to describe what it felt like when the missile struck. I ran out
immediately after and saw that the front of our home had just fallen
off. I then saw that my father was lying on the ground next to his car.
He had injuries on his face and I specifically remember blood running
out of his ear. I brought him to the hospital, but it was too late, he’d
died immediately.”
The son said that he had not heard any shooting from their street before
the air strike: “Our neighborhood is neutral. I do not know of anyone
who stores weapons or ammunition. I find it very strange that our street
was targeted specifically.”
Human Rights Watch was unable to contact family members of the other
victim, Hanan al-Drissi, but spoke by phone to three of her neighbors,
who said she died instantly when a rocket hit her home. One neighbor
said that al-Drissi was on the roof at the time, and that one of her
sisters, also at the house, was critically injured.
