Libyan torture victims file US federal lawsuit against Haftar, target assets

The families of the victims of torture and extrajudicial killings in Libya have reportedly filed US federal lawsuits against the self-styled commander of Libyan rebel forces, renegade General Khalifa Haftar, over charges of war crimes.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Monday that the lawsuits had been filed in multiple jurisdictions.

Haftar owns millions of dollars’ worth of US real estate. He was backed by the CIA at one time.

The American daily said the plaintiffs were targeting the assets in the US as compensation for Haftar’s involvement in war crimes in Libya.

“Most of the 17 Haftar-linked properties targeted are owned by limited liability companies (LLC) controlled by his son Okba Haftar,” the WSJ said, adding, “The LLC with the largest number of properties is Eastfield Holdings, with around 10 properties worth about $4.5m.”

One property, a 5,600-square-foot house in Great Falls, Fairfax County of Virginia, is valued at nearly $2.5 million, according to the newspaper, while public records also list a condo in Falls Church, in the southeastern US state, as well as a three-bedroom ranch.

The WSJ also said that as recently as July, Haftar’s son reportedly purchased a $700,000 horse farm in the small town of Boyce, Virginia, which has a population of 589 people.

The prosecutors argued that Haftar’s long-time residency in the US and ownership of assets there are two facts that are sufficient grounds for granting Virginia state jurisdiction over his alleged war crimes in Libya and confiscating his assets.

HRW calls on Libya's rebel commander to probe war crimes by militias

Human Rights Watch has called on Libya’s renegade general Khalifa Haftar to investigate war crimes perpetrated by the rebel forces under his command.

Over the past couple of years, multiple Libyan families have filed lawsuits against Haftar, including two filed in Virginia and one in Washington, for his war crimes, accusing the US national of murder, starvation and torture, among other charges.

After Haftar failed in a coup attempt against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 1987, he moved to the US with his family – including his sons Khalid and Saddam – and eventually became an American citizen.

After more than two decades in the US, Haftar returned to Libya when Gaddafi was ousted and killed in a NATO-backed uprising.

Since 2014, two rival seats of power have emerged in Libya, namely the internationally-recognized government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, and another group based in the east of the country that is militarily backed by rebels under the command of a military strongman Haftar.

Libyan experts discover 17 bodies in mass graves in Haftar’s stronghold

Libyan experts have discovered 17 bodies in several mass graves in the west of the North African country’s Tarhuna region, from where rebel forces under the command of renegade general Khalifa Haftar launched an aborted assault last year to seize the capital, Tripoli.

The rebels, supported by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Jordan, launched a deadly offensive to capture the capital Tripoli last April. But the government forces repelled that offensive and gained the upper hand against the rebels elsewhere in the country with crucial help from Turkey.

Libyan government forces have discovered scores of mass graves since Haftar’s rebels retreated from areas under their control, particularly in Tarhuna region, some 80 kilometers southeast of the capital Tripoli, which served as the main staging point for Haftar’s failed offensive.

The renegade general has so far violated previous ceasefire agreements with the government, but the two rival sides eventually agreed in Geneva last month to sign a "permanent ceasefire" agreement in all areas.

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