Libya court sentences 23 to death for ISIL campaign
The appeals court sentences 14 others to life imprisonment for, among other things, the beheading of Egyptian Christians in 2015.
A Libyan court has sentenced 23 people to death and another 14 to life in prison for their roles in a deadly ISIL (ISIS) campaign, including beheading a group of Egyptian Christians and taking the city of Sirte in 2015.
The attorney general’s office said in a statement Monday that one other person has been sentenced to 12 years in prison and six to 10 years; one was sentenced to five years and six others to three years. Five were acquitted and three others died before their cases went to trial, the statement said.
Libya is said to be one of ISIL’s strongholds outside Iraq and Syria, and the group benefited from the chaos and warfare in the North African country that followed a NATO-backed insurgency in 2011.
In 2015, the armed group launched an attack on the luxury Corinthia Hotel in Tripoli, killing nine people and then kidnapping and beheading dozens of Egyptian Christians, whose deaths were featured in gruesome propaganda films.
After seizing territory in Benghazi, Derna and Ajdabiya in eastern Libya, the group seized the central coastal city of Sirte, holding it until late 2016 as it enforced a strict regime of public morality backed by brutal punishment.
The court sentenced three minors to 10 years each in prison, lawyer Lotfi Mohaychem said.
“As lawyers for the families of the victims, we find the court’s verdict very satisfactory and fair,” said Mohaychem.
“The court convicted those whose guilt had been proven and acquitted those against whom there was insufficient evidence.”
‘We saw justice done’
Fatima Beitelmal, the mother of a victim, told Al Jazeera she could not explain her happiness after the verdict.
“My dear son Mohamed, I have justice for you. I haven’t been able to sleep since my two sons were killed. We saw justice being served,” she said.
Mustafa Trabelsi, the father of another victim, said he felt relieved by the verdict that came after many court hearings.
“My son was kidnapped by ISIL in Sirte and is still missing. I don’t know what happened to him,” Trabelsi told Al Jazeera.
ISIL and other groups took advantage of the chaos that engulfed Libya after the 2011 uprising that toppled and later killed longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi.
The group was finally driven out of Sirte in December 2016 by forces fighting for the former United Nations-backed Government of National Accord. Forces of eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar recaptured Derna two years later.
Hundreds of alleged former ISIL fighters are still held in Libyan prisons, many of whom are still awaiting trial.