TRIPOLI: The United Nations Support Mission in Libya on Sunday called for an injury into the death of a political activist while in custody at an eastern military base controlled by military strongman Khalifa Haftar.
UNSMIL also demanded an immediate release of other prisoners being detained arbitrarily by the eastern-based authorities in the North African state.
The UN mission, in a statement on X, said it was deeply saddened by the death of activist Siraj Dughman during custody at Rajma military camp and called upon the Libyan authorities to hold a transparent and independent probe into the circumstances surrounding his death.
Libya which has been facing political instability and violence since the overthrow of Muammar Qaddafi in 2011, is divided between an internationally recognized government, based in Tripoli, and a rival administration backed by Haftar.
The base at Rajma, about 25 kilometers east of Benghazi city, serves as the headquarters of Haftar.
Earlier, the Haftar-affiliated Eastern Internal Security Agency confirmed the of Dughman in a video message.
The UN agency said it had demanded a forensic examination of the circumstances of the death of Dughman as he died while attempting to escape prison on Friday.
The agency said he was apprehended in October 2023 together with several others accused of taking part in a campaign provoking the overthrow of official state agencies.
UNSMIL said that Dughman was arrested arbitrarily and detained in 2023 with other Benghazi-based staff members of the Libyan Center for Future Studies.
Dughman was the head of the organization’s office in Benghazi.
Extrajudicial arrests, assassinations and detentions of activists, political dissidents, and human rights activists have become common in Libya.
