17 November Human Rights Watch 43 Dead, Many Wounded, as Security Forces Stand by Militias from Misrata fired assault rifles, machine guns, and heavy weapons at overwhelmingly peaceful protesters in Tripoli on November 15, killing several people. Ensuing clashes between armed groups and militias left 43 people dead and at least 460 wounded. State security forces present at the initial protest apparently failed to protect protesters or to arrest and disarm the militias. The Libyan government should immediately make good on its promise to disarm the militias and investigate the events, and hold militia members and commanders to account for Read the full article…

US Department of State 20 May 2013 The interim constitution protects religious freedom and, in practice, the government generally respected religious freedom. The trend in the government’s respect for religious freedom did not change significantly during the year. Following the fall of the Qadhafi regime after the 2011 revolution, the new government ceased actively regulating all aspects of religious life. Qadhafi-era laws that restrict religious freedom remained, but the government did not regularly enforce them. The government was limited in its ability to prevent violent extremist groups from taking advantage of the post-revolution security vacuum to attack religious minorities. There Read the full article…

UK Home Office 9 May 2013 This document provides Home Office caseworkers with guidance on the nature and handling of the most common types of claims received from nationals/residents of Libya, including whether claims are or are not likely to justify the granting of asylum, Humanitarian Protection or Discretionary Leave. Caseworkers must refer to the relevant Asylum Instructions for further details of the policy on these areas. Read the full guidance note here.

Reporters Without Borders 29 April 2013 Reporters Without Borders expressed grave concern about recent violent attacks on Libyan journalists, whose safety conditions are deteriorating drastically. The free press organization demanded that the Libyan transitional government do everything in its power to guarantee the security of local and foreign media workers. On 28 April, armed militiamen kidnapped Mahmoud Al-Farjani, correspondent for Al-Arabiya, seizing him in the Saudi-owned network’s office, which lies across the street from the Foreign Ministry. He was covering a militia demonstration in favour of highly controversial legislation to ban from politics former senior officials who served deposed dictator Read the full article…