The Libya Dawn actions Human Rights Watch documented include an attack on the private Alassema TV station on August 23-24 in which fighters forced the station off the air, set the director’s home on fire, and seized three employees, who are still missing. The homes and property of other people associated with Alassema TV have also been targeted, as has the home of journalist Hussam al-Wheishi.
According to the Libyan government, Libya Dawn militia forces attacked the home of Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni on August 25, forcing out his family, looting the house, and setting it ablaze. On August 27, the government said, “criminal gangs” had burned down the home of acting Transportation Minister Abdelgader al-Zintani.
In other cases, the militias targeted people from Zintan and supporters of Libya Dignity, as well as people whom the Misrata militias forcibly displaced from the town of Tawergha following the 2011 conflict because of the Tawerghans’ alleged support for Muammar Gaddafi.
A September 1, 2014 report by the Crisis Committee of Zintan’s municipal council said that the Tripoli homes of at least 80 families from Zintan had been “attacked and looted,” and that 80 men from Zintan had been detained, kidnapped, or were missing.
On August 30, armed men from the Libya Shield Forces, a militia belonging to the Libya Dawn coalition, attacked a camp for displaced Tawerghans in Tripoli, killing one man and injuring several people. The militia groups, as well as the Libyan government, should take urgent steps to stop abuses against Tawerghans, some 40,000 of whom have been forcibly displaced, Human Rights Watch said.
(Source: HRW)