Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Fatou Bensouda has expressed concern over reports regarding serious crimes allegedly committed in official and unofficial detention facilities in Libya, including the prisons of Qirnada and Kweifeh in Haftar-controlled Benghazi, and Mitiga Prison controlled by the Special Deterrence Force in Tripoli.

In her briefing to the U.N. Security Council on Libya Monday, Bensouda said the ICC continues to receive concerning information about ongoing crimes, ranging from disappearances and arbitrary detention to murder, torture, and sexual and gender-based violence.

The top prosecutor condemned "the violent silencing of public critics as a method to terrorize the civilian population," calling on Libya’s new interim government to investigate the assassination of human rights lawyer Hanan Al-Barasi and the disappearance of MP Siham Sergewa, who were both targeted in Benghazi.

As for the mass graves committed by pro-Haftar Al-Kani militia in the city of Tarhouna, Bensouda explained that a team from the court has been in contact with the Libyan authorities since the discovery of the mass graves, which opened "much-needed opportunities for the preservation and the collection of evidence for future prosecutions”, she said.