Tawerghans say mass grave bodies mis-identified, demand neutral investigation

Exhumed bodies found in a mass grave discovered earlier this week are not civilians from Misrata but are people from Tawergha, the town’s local council in exile has said, demanding that a neutral committee be formed to investigate the grave.

The head of the Tawergha refugee camp in Tripoli, Ali Arrous, told the Libya Herald that the displaced people of Tawergha do not trust the research team of the Ministry of Martyrs and Missing People.

Tawerghan refugees, he said, are demanding that a neutral committee be formed to investigate the cemetery. This, he said, should consist of members of the Red Cross and the UN mission in Libya to fully investigate the mass grave.

“The cemetery is about 300 years old,” Arrous said, “but the bodies in this grave were victims of a NATO airstrike. They were martyrs.” He added that the Tawerghans have witnesses, including those who actually buried the bodies on 11 August 2011.

Some of corpses were, however, found in handcuffs. Asked why they had been handcuffed if they were martyrs, Arrous hesitated, then said: “that is why the Local Council of Tawergha, exiled in Benghazi, is asking for a neutral committee.”

Media office manager for the Ministry of Martyrs and Missing People, Hamed Malki, told the Libya Herald that the ministry was already linked up with the Red Cross and the UN in Libya. He said it was ready to cooperate with both organisations, in both the interests of the Ministry itself and the families of the victims.

Friday 17 May 2013

http://www.libyaherald.com/2013/05/16/tawerghans-say-mass-grave-bodies-mis-identified-demand-neutral-investigation/