According to AFP journalists present at the court, a Libyan court sentenced to death 35 jihadists accused of fighting with the Islamic State group in the north African country during the chaos that followed Muammar Gadhafi’s collapse.
This was the first trial and sentencing of 320 suspected IS terrorists.
IS had taken control of the central coast city of Sirte in 2015, establishing a stronghold before being forced out the following year by forces loyal to the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord, which was in power at the time.
Thirteen additional defendants were sentenced to life in jail during the trial, which began last August in the western city of Misrata, according to AFP journalists.
The defendants were Palestinians, Sudanese, and Libyans. All had been in detention since December 2016 and had been convicted of terrorist group membership as well as murder.
Others were acquitted, but it was unclear how many.
According to lawyer Lotfi Mohaychem, who represented families of anti-IS militants killed in the struggle for Sirte, the court also sentenced three juveniles to ten years in prison apiece.
The suspects entered the dock wearing blue prison overalls, beards, and shaved heads.
The courtroom was packed with relatives of those murdered in the Sirte conflict.
“As lawyers for the victims’ families we see the verdict of the court as very satisfying and very just,” Mohaychem said. “The court sentenced those whose guilt was demonstrated and acquitted those against whom there was insufficient evidence.”
When the verdicts were read, cries of joy and applause filled the room along with shouts of, “God is greatest” and, “The blood of the martyrs has not been spilled in vain”.
Mostafa Salem Trabelsi, who described himself as the uncle of one of the victims and father of another who disappeared, said he felt “relieved despite the pain”.
Libya was plunged into more than a decade of chaos and lawlessness following the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that led to the removal and killing of Gadhafi.
Africanews
