The United Nations Support Mission (UNSMIL) said it was deeply saddened by the death of Libyan activist Siraj Dughman while in custody at Rajma military camp – which is in eastern Libya under the control of Khalifa Haftar’s forces. UNSMIL urged authorities to conduct a transparent and independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death.
“While noting the Eastern Internal Security Agency statement on Dughman’s death, UNSMIL stresses that he, alongside Fathi Al-Baaja, Tarek Al-Bishari, Salem Laaribi and Nasser Daaessi, was arbitrarily arrested and detained in 2023. They were never formally charged or appeared in court.” UNSMIL said in a statement on Sunday.
UNSMIL called for the immediate and unconditional release of all arbitrarily detained individuals, including those detained with Dughman, reiterating its calls for accountability and stopping abductions, disappearances as well as arbitrary arrests across the country.
Benghazi’s Internal Security Agency justified the cause of death of the prisoner Dughman by saying he fell on his head from a high place as he was trying to escape from a WC window after climbing to the window with the help of sewage pipes.
Dughman was arrested in October 2023 by the Internal Security Agency in Benghazi with a number of activists without any clear charges or accusations. The reasons for the arrest, according to the former Interior Minister Ashour Shuwayel, were related to their discussion – in a Benghazi workshop – the collapse of Derna dams. The workshop was organized by the Center for Strategic and Future Studies.
