Benghazi: Internal Security accused of abducting activist over Facebook post

Libya Crimes Watch said it had documented the arrest of activist Abdulaziz Abdulrahman Al-Arfi, known as Aziz Al-Arfi (27), in the city of Benghazi by armed personnel affiliated with the Internal Security Agency under the parallel government in eastern Libya. The organization said he was taken to an unknown location and that his whereabouts remain unknown.

The organization said Al-Arfi was arrested over a post on his personal Facebook account in which he expressed support for the protests in Tripoli and Misrata and called for the removal of all political bodies, combating corruption, holding elections, and adopting a constitution.

It held the authorities in eastern Libya fully legally responsible for Al-Arfi’s safety, saying that his detention for exercising his right to freedom of opinion and expression, while being denied basic legal safeguards and with his place of detention undisclosed, constitutes a serious violation of international human rights law and amounts to arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance.

It called on the authorities in eastern Libya to immediately disclose Al-Arfi’s fate and place of detention, allow him to communicate with his family and lawyer, and release him immediately and unconditionally. 

Libya Crimes Watch also urged the Attorney General and the Advocate General in Benghazi to open an urgent and independent investigation into the circumstances of the incident, identify those responsible, and hold them accountable. The organization renewed its call to end the targeting of activists for exercising their right to freedom of opinion and expression and to ensure their protection.