A source from Al-Baraghtha tribe in eastern Libya told local media that the leadership of Al-Rajma (Khalifa Haftar's forces) informed them of the killing of their son, former Defense Minister Mahdi Al-Barghathi.
This report comes at a time when Al-Barghathi’s family has denied receiving news of his death, and appealed to local authorities and human rights organizations to seek his and his companions' release.
Meanwhile, Al-Awaqir tribe's youth movement, from which Al-Baraghtha tribe descends, demanded that the judiciary and Khalifa Haftar investigate the killing of Mahdi Al-Barghathi. It threatened what it described as an escalation of the situation in the event of failure to respond to investigations into the killing of Al-Barghathi, saying that “all those involved in his killing will confront the movement's youths.”
Libyan Crime Watch has confirmed the killing of Ahmed Bufanara inside the prison of the Tariq bin Ziyad Brigade, which is affiliated with Khalifa Haftar’s forces, in the city of Benghazi, saying in a statement Sunday that the Bufanara's family have received the body of the victim from Al-Jalaa Hospital on Friday "and the body had clear signs of torture."
Libyan Crime Watch added that Bufanara was arrested on October 10 by the Internal Security Apparatus, following the arrest campaign that came after the military operation against former Defense Minister Mahdi Al-Barghathi.
In early October, Haftar's forces arrested Al-Mahdi Al-Barghathi, a number of his companions, and a number of the women of his family, after Al-Barghathi returned to his home in Benghazi, following clashes that lasted for hours between the two sides.
Later, Haftar's forces handed over the body of Ibrahim; Mahdi Al-Barghathi's son to his family, after he was arrested with his father and his companions. They asked the family to bury the body and not hold a funeral.
