Khamis Brigade Shed Massacre: The UNHRC Reports

March 4, 2012
(incomplete)

UN Human Rights Commission Report on abuses in Libya, advance unedited version, March 2 2012.
Direct document download link:
http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session19/A_HRC_19_68_en.doc

I only skimmed most of it, but from what I see, it has some info on NATO bombing (some of which targeted non-military facilities and requires more investigation, the rest of which killed patriotic Libyans trying to protect their country - ie, "legitimate targets").

Mostly it focuses on conduct by the on-the-ground factions still sorting it out within Libya. Their reliance on available witnesses, primarily Rebels and those who support them, gives the report the usual skewing one would expect, allowing a hug portion of the crimes to still appear as if committed by the dying regime and its supporters. Various incidents are covered in this light; the 25 activists/17 corpses atrocity and other of the bizarre Tripoli massacres are discussed, the targeting of Tawerghans, rape, torture, all laid-out with Gaddafi regime and "Thuwar" (rebel fighter) violations listed.

Of interest to me now is their section on the Khamis Brigade Shed Massacre. This needs to be absorbed and worked into the body of knowledge before I can finish the report I'm slowly working into competence. In that interest, here is the presaging paragraph and then all the ones relating their findings on what happened at Yarmouk.

26. An informal detention centre was established in a warehouse adjacent to the 32nd Brigade’s base in Yarmouk, Tripoli. According to testimony received, torture and ill-treatment of detainees was routine there. On 23 August 2011, as Tripoli fell, guards threw grenades into the warehouse and then began to fire through the door, killing dozens. As the prisoners were so tightly packed, however, some survived and managed to escape. Two days later, the guards burned the bodies of those killed. Of the 157 detainees, only 51 survivors were confirmed. The Commission interviewed survivors, as well as two of the guards who admitted direct or indirect involvement. The testimony is broadly consistent and corroborative. The Commission’s forensic pathologist identified skeletal remains inside the warehouse. Other forensic evidence remaining at the site is considerable and supports the testimony closely. Six detainees, including three medical doctors, were shot a day earlier in a second warehouse, a few hundred metres away. Three of the six died.

The bolded: "Broadly" is just a big and vague enough word I'm forced to not call that an obvious lie.

The last part about a nearby killing: is this Qasr Ben Ghashir, about eight kilometers south, where two doctors among five men were first reported shot dead? Then another version had five of six people, includiong the doctors, killed instantly, with the sixth dying right after? Now it's six attacked, with three doctors, and three total survived? The date's never been clarified either: August 21 or 24 were given in the earlier versions. If this is the same, it's implied as August 22. Must be a separate incident. But even to that, one must say "what the hell? How confusing can this get?"

Returning to the main incident:

i. Yarmouk
27. After the February 2011 demonstrations started, an informal detention centre was established in an agricultural store adjacent to the base of the 32nd (Khamis) Brigade at Yarmouk, in the Khilit al-Ferjan area of Tripoli. The 32nd (Khamis) Brigade and the base itself were controlled by the son of Muammar Qadhafi, Khamis Qadhafi.

Allegedly -I'm on the fence whether anyone was or wasn't imprisoned there. A lot of people do say they were, that much is clear.

28. The warehouse was already receiving prisoners by March 2011 at the latest. The former detainees interviewed by the Commission had mainly been brought there in June 2011, by which time there were reportedly, up to 50 detainees in a space 20m by 9m. They were all accused one way or another of supporting the thuwar. They had been brought there from as far away as Zlitan and Garabulli (60 km from Tripoli) as well as from Tripoli itself. By the beginning of August 2011, numbers had risen to a reported 90.

These are among the things they say, true enough. Most of them, at least the survivors, seem to be from Zlitan, by the weird things they say. The shed size is close - using the imagery and scale from Google maps, the overall peaked roof area is 9 m by 16 m. They addedthe covered area between the shed and the side shack (but they didn't add the shack). The main chamber the prisoners all claim they were held in and fired on in, and making counts based on, is only about 9x12. The smaller chamber is only about 4 meters wide. There are a few burned bodies in there, but the main area is what they allrefer to, and it was nearly twice as crowded as they would have calculated.

29. Detainees told the Commission that water and food were distributed rarely. They were not allowed out to use latrines and were forced to urinate in plastic bottles. (During its visit to the site in December, the Commission observed a number of bottles on the site filled with dark brown liquid which were identified by former detainees as having been used for this purpose. ) All the former detainees interviewed, as well as one of the former guards, confirmed that torture and ill-treatment was routine at the warehouse, with prisoners being beaten and electrocuted. . On the basis of those testimonies, torture was carried out by numerous individuals, including [070]. The torture of detainees led to their death in at least four cases. One week before Ramadan [044] and [038] were interrogating one of the detainees, in the office attached to the warehouse. They beat the detainee to death. [007] threw the body behind Camp 27. Three engineers, who were working for a communication company died under torture in Yarmouk at the end of May 2011 during interrogation by an officer called [025] - they were subjected to electric shocks and severely beaten with sticks, having been accused of communicating with NATO and providing information on military locations. After they died, [007] took their bodies and threw them in the sea at the end of Camp 27.

The guards, two of them already covered here. Witnesses say things. Some of this might well be true, I don't know. It's the cluster of miracles on the 23rd I'm most interested in.

30. The immediate commander of the centre was [056], supported by a Sergeant [030]. [056] reported to Brigadier [028] and reportedly at that time commanding the Khilit al-Ferjan zone in which Yarmouk is located. Brigadier [028] in turn at that time reported directly to Khamis Qadhafi, although he denied this to the Commission. The guards themselves appear to have made little secret of their names and a total 15 names were provided to the Commission both by former detainees and by guards now in custody themselves. One of the guards had even written his name in graffiti on the wall of the centre. The guards were named as [080, 019, 070, 066, 017, 037, 060, 036, 038, 065, 067, 056, 044, 054, 064, 007].
31. By the third week of August 2011, when the thuwar were closing in on Tripoli, the number of detainees had risen to 157. On 23 August 2011, at approximately 4pm, (3-4 hours before the massacre), Khamis Qadhafi, [028] and [056] were together at the warehouse in Yarmouk. Later, Khamis reportedly called and instructed [056] and [030] to “conduct the operation” and then join him in fleeing the city.

Make note of this Brigadier [028]. He's the one who was the alleged link betweenthe demonized Khamis and the fable of the shed massacre. He breaks script by saying there was no such link.

32. During the early evening (just after the mosques announced the start of the iftar others [066 and ‘Mustafa’ ] informed the detainees that he would leave the door of the warehouse open and turn the light off to allow the detainees to escape because “they wanted you all dead”. The guard then ran away, along with one of his colleagues [066]. The detainees did not flee, however, despite the open door. A number of other guards then came and demanded to know who had opened the door. The guards then closed the door and threw a number of grenades into the warehouse through the grill in the top of the doorway. The number of grenades used has been described by former detainees as between 6-8.

[066] must be Abdul Razak, or Abdul Razak Baroni. In this version, the UN cleared up the confusion between Razak and "Mustafa," (covered here) by having both guards existent and present, though no witness I'm aware of has described two - it was one or the other that set them free, or tried to, before, during or after the massacre, or neither of them. As usual, it's quite confused.

33. One of the two perpetrators spoken to by the Commission said that Sergeant [030] brought seven hand grenades from the military camp next door on 19 August 2011, reportedly telling one of the guards [066] that if the situation deteriorated he should use them to “carry out the task”. The guard, who was later reported to have been one of those who warned the detainees and fled before the massacre, reportedly refused to take the grenades. One of the guards who admitted throwing two of the grenades into the warehouse said he had been given them earlier by the centre commander [056]. The guard told the Commission that he had been threatened with being killed himself after he initially refused to take them.

Bolded should be "claimed,"or "alleged."

34. The detainees were tightly packed and in consequence, some of the blast was absorbed by the bodies. The blast blew the doors open. The guards then began to fire AK-47 assault rifles through the door. As some of the survivors from the initial blast tried to get out, the perpetrators moved backwards into the yard and continued firing. Detainees variously described the firing as continuing for between 10-30 minutes, before the guards ceased firing and retired to the supply room. The detainees speculated to the Commission that this was to resupply with ammunition. As the prisoners were so tightly packed however, quite a few of the prisoners were still alive and those who could, escaped through the door and ran across to one corner of the compound, where they used a vehicle as a stepping stone to climb the wall and escape into the surrounding area. One detainee showed the Commission evidence of a bullet graze sustained during the escape.

A graze doesn't sound like Mabrouk Abdullah's totally healed full-on entry wound. Another verified gunshot injury allegedly from the massacre itself?

Soldiers backing up? Because prisoners were"trying"to get out? And again, it's silly they'd go to re-load AND leave the doors open, as implied here (ability was the only thing keeping all from running out) or any such thing. If they were dead, no need to re-load. If they were much alive, they should have re-locked the doors.

Fifteen or so other points of disconnect I could go on about...

35. While detainees named various guards as having been responsible for the actual killings, former guards themselves specifically named four individuals as having been responsible thrown the grenades or fired the rifles [038, 036, 017] and a volunteer named [057] under the orders of Sergeant [030]. [036] had thrown the grenades while Sergeant [038] and [017] used AK-47s to shoot the prisoners. The specific role of [056] was not stated. The officer in charge of the centre [056] was not present, having already left prior to the executions.

No notes here yet.

36. Following the killing, one of the guards was ordered by Sergeant [030] to collect the bodies. He counted 109 bodies, including the ones inside the warehouse, on the street and in the yard in front of the warehouse. A Caterpillar digging machine was brought but it did not function properly. Having failed to locate another, he then came back and asked one of the other guards, [019] what to do with the bodies. The other guard suggested they burn the bodies inside the warehouse and then use a tank to shell the warehouse and claim that NATO had bombed the warehouse. Two days later, on 25 August 2011, they brought fuel and burned the bodies.

A specified burn date for the first time. This makes moderate sense given the smoke still rolling off well into the 28th. None of those saying the fire was started the 23rd or 22nd makes sense. Too bad the clues are coming to light that the rebels were in charge the whole time from massacre date forward through all possible burn dates. Those in charge doing the erasing of clues suggests what?

37. The next day, Friday 26 August 2011, local people were able to get into the warehouse, having seen that the guards had left. They found a total of 57 burnt bodies inside. There was still smoke in the air. 20 bodies lay outside on the ground with gunshot wounds. The bodies were subsequently collected in body bags and reburied at Sidi Hamed in Gargarish.. Of the 157 believed to be in the warehouse on 23rd August 2011, only 51 survivors were confirmed, with 106 believed to have died.

Did they leave before or after the seven-hour battle on the morning of the 27th? Or was it the night of the 23rd? What did they think of almost the whole Gaddafi family converging there and leaving at 4:30 PM?  Did these locals enter before or after that? Before or after the rebel victory of about noon that same day? Which parallel universe did this occur in?

38. In addition to viewing video footage taken at the time of human remains inside the warehouse, the Commission also visited the Yarmouk warehouse itself and examined evidence remaining there. The Commission noted that there were still some charred fragments of human skeletal remains inside the warehouse. The Commission’s forensic pathologist identified a number of these various bones as a calcaneus, fragments of the cranial vault, metatarsus, radius, tibia, fibula, pubic bone, ulna, metacarpals and 1st phalanges. Alongside the remains, the presence of maggots was noted. Empty cartridge cases were visible beside the human skeletal remains, as well as on the ground outside. The large metal door of the warehouse contained a number of holes consistent with bullet hole entry points. There were also holes in the metal doors of the warehouse consistent with bullets exiting the warehouse from the inside, along with holes in the door and roof which were consistent with shrapnel burst from the hand grenades.

Bones were indeed found, just like the "witnesses," and a ton of photos and videos, had reported. That's science at work, proving the "witnesses" correct, right? Maggots were noted. That suggests organic things rotted. Huh! The alleged victims were organic! The bones had shell casings next to them suggesting they were shot on-site, or had casings from elsewhere laid by them.

I've got an anlysis on the building damage forthcoming, and no great counter-points yet. Indeed, weapons like those described seem to have been used there and chipped up the walls, torn through the thin metal wherever possible, etc. It all looks pretty random, really. Bullets from inside could be from the guards having stepped in through the doors to shoot prisoners, as some reported (they only started backing out later), then briefly turning around and shooting back at the doors. Who knows?

39. The Commission received testimony from numerous survivors, witnesses to the aftermath and two of the guards, who admitted direct or indirect involvement in the killing to the Commission. In addition, the Commission also interviewed Brigadier [028], who was reportedly at the warehouse earlier on the day of the massacre. He told the Commission he was simply in charge of personnel at the Military Intelligence (Istikhbarat). He reported directly to [008] and him alone. All orders came through [008] and he says he never was tasked directly by members of the Qadhafi family. When asked about his knowledge of the massacre, he claimed he only heard about it after the event and “if you’re interested in human rights violations then I don’t know why I am here”.

"Admitted" suggests a bias on the part of the writers to believe what should be "claimed." This sets apart the one guard who didn't tell it the same way, who refused to "admit"to anything. Again, we see him apparently breaking script. Is Brigadier [028] still alive?

40. The testimony from all parties who were at the warehouse at the time of the massacre is broadly consistent and corroborative. In addition the forensic evidence remaining at the site is considerable and supports the testimony closely, in relation to the conditions they were kept, the torture they sustained whilst in detention, the use of hand grenades and AK-47s to execute prisoners and finally the attempted destruction of the bodies. While there are small discrepancies, the evidence collected by the Commission is also consistent with that collected by human rights organizations at the time and in the aftermath of the massacre.

Pathetic. Otherwise, more later.