The United States unilaterally put the Libyan “Kaniyat” militia, and its leader, Mohamed Al-Kani, on the blacklist, accusing them of torturing and killing civilians during a brutal crackdown in Libya, despite Russia, last week, blocking a committee in the United Nations Security Council from imposing sanctions for human rights violations by the group.
According to Eurasia Review; the United States and Germany proposed to impose the 15-member UN Security Council Sanctions Committee on Libya; freezing of assets and travel bans on the “Kaniyat” and Al-Kani militias.
These sanctions will be enforced under the Global Magnitsky Act, which allows the US government to target human rights violators around the world by freezing assets and preventing Americans from doing business with them.
On the other hand, Russia said that it could not agree to the sanctions because it wanted to see more evidence first of the killing of civilians, and to provide evidence of what happened in the city, while 12 bodies were recently found from four unidentified graves in Tarhuna, in addition to dozens of bodies that were destroyed.
For years, the city was under the control of Al-Kanyat militia run by the local Al-Kani family, which fought alongside the Libyan National Army.
In addition, the United Nations envoy to Libya pressured the United Nations Security Council to blacklist anyone obstructing peace efforts, after the warring parties agreed to a ceasefire and Libyan participants in political talks set a date for elections.
The Security Council now has tools at its disposal, including preventing the spoilers from jeopardizing this rare opportunity to restore peace in Libya.
The United States and Germany wrote in their sanctions proposal that the United Nations Support Mission in Libya “received reports of hundreds of human rights violations committed by the“ Kaniyat ”militia against individuals, government officials, captured fighters and civil society, while it was reported that armed men in Tarhuna, led by Mohammad Al-Kani, carried out forced disappearances, torture and murder in Tarhuna prison on September 13, 2019.
The United States has investigated allegations of corruption that threaten, without a doubt, the integrity of the Libyan political situation, but the lack of disclosure of the results of the investigation into these allegations and the exclusion of those involved in bribery undermines the process of the entire political situation, and endangers the credibility of this political situation or any future stability, with potentially disastrous consequences for future general elections, standing as a stumbling stone in achieving peace and stability in the country, while the United Nations is entrusted with a moral obligation to continue the elections and announce the results.
On the other hand; recommendations were issued by the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, to continue the investigation and take all measures to help reveal the truth, and to publicly announce the results of the investigation into these crimes, in addition to calling for the disclosure of the dialogue members involved in acts of corruption and their exclusion from the remaining dialogue sessions, with the necessity of informing the public of the results of the investigation, and preventing anyone involved in corruption cases from running for sovereign positions, whether in the Presidency Council or the government.
Meanwhile, the Public Prosecution office in Libya recommended that the necessary legal measures be taken and the start of an urgent criminal investigation into the accident to refer those involved to the national judiciary in accordance with the law, and to announce the results of the investigation and the procedures that the judicial and executive authorities will follow with the perpetrators.
