Libya finds mass grave from 1996 massacre
- 13 years ago
It was dawn on June 29, 1996 when guards at Abu Salim prison in Tripoli ordered inmates into the courtyard.
They were then shot by security men standing on prison roofs.
This is the account survivors gave to human rights groups.
Now, the first physical evidence of the Abu Salim prison massacre has been found, this mass grave.
Libya's National Transitional Council said it contained the bodies of people killed by toppled leader Muammar Gaddafi's security forces in a 1996 massacre.
It holds the remains of 1,270 people.
It was an event covered up for years.
Tripoli's military spokesman gave further details leading up to the inmates deaths.
(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) KHALID AL-SHARIF, MILITARY SPOKESMAN FOR TRIPOLI, SAYING:
"After that, an order was issued to massacre those unarmed prisoners. As you know, and, as you've already heard from the stories of survivors of this massacre, they were ordered out of their rooms to the prison courtyard in groups and then the prison guards opened fire on them while they were blindfolded and handcuffed."
Relatives visited the site, expressing their anger and sadness which they had carried for over 15 years.
(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MABROUKA SAEED AL-HABIB, WHOSE SON ABDELAZIZ DIED AT SITE, SAYING:
"They (prison authorities) told me that they were dead, since he was 21 years old. Since he was caught, I never saw him in a visit or any other way from the day that they arrested him."
Gaddafi's government used Abu Salim prison to detain its opponents.
The uprising that toppled Gaddafi was ignited by protests linked to the Abu Salim massacre.
Marie-Claire Fennessy, Reuters
They were then shot by security men standing on prison roofs.
This is the account survivors gave to human rights groups.
Now, the first physical evidence of the Abu Salim prison massacre has been found, this mass grave.
Libya's National Transitional Council said it contained the bodies of people killed by toppled leader Muammar Gaddafi's security forces in a 1996 massacre.
It holds the remains of 1,270 people.
It was an event covered up for years.
Tripoli's military spokesman gave further details leading up to the inmates deaths.
(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) KHALID AL-SHARIF, MILITARY SPOKESMAN FOR TRIPOLI, SAYING:
"After that, an order was issued to massacre those unarmed prisoners. As you know, and, as you've already heard from the stories of survivors of this massacre, they were ordered out of their rooms to the prison courtyard in groups and then the prison guards opened fire on them while they were blindfolded and handcuffed."
Relatives visited the site, expressing their anger and sadness which they had carried for over 15 years.
(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MABROUKA SAEED AL-HABIB, WHOSE SON ABDELAZIZ DIED AT SITE, SAYING:
"They (prison authorities) told me that they were dead, since he was 21 years old. Since he was caught, I never saw him in a visit or any other way from the day that they arrested him."
Gaddafi's government used Abu Salim prison to detain its opponents.
The uprising that toppled Gaddafi was ignited by protests linked to the Abu Salim massacre.
Marie-Claire Fennessy, Reuters