In the summer of 1996, stories began to filter out of Libya about a mass killing in Tripoli’s Abu Salim prison. The details remained scarce, and the government initially denied that an incident had taken place. Libyan groups outside the country said up to 1,200 prisoners had died.

The government should establish a justice system that can and will prosecute and fairly try individuals responsible for the egregious crime, in which more than 1,200 prisoners were shot and killed, Human Rights Watch said.  The bodies of the victims have yet to be found.

“Sixteen years after the mass killing in Abu Salim prison, Libyans can finally hope for justice,” said Fred Abrahams, special advisor at Human Rights Watch. “This means finding the bodies and identifying and punishing the people responsible for the crime.

A number of guards and senior Gaddafi-era officials have been detained and are under investigation by the military prosecutor for the 1996 prison massacre.They should be given full due process rights guaranteed in Libya law and granted fair trials, Human Rights Watch said.

Human Rights Watch has interviewed eight prisoners who were in Abu Salim prison during that time.  According to these witnesses, on the evening of June 28 the prisoners protested over harsh prison conditions and captured two guards, one of whom died.

Guards opened fire, killing six prisoners and wounding about 20. 

The government sent senior officials to negotiate, including Muammar Gaddafi’s brother-in-law and intelligence chief, Abdullah Sanussi. Five prisoners met Sanussi to present their demands, including a stop to torture, trials for prisoners, and improved food, health care, and family visits.

Sanussi said he would meet the prisoners’ demands, except for trials, if the prisoners released the other captured guard, one of the prisoner negotiators told Human Rights Watch. The prisoners agreed and about 120 sick prisoners were taken away, allegedly for medical care. Instead, many of them were shot and killed.

 The next morning, hundreds of prisoners from different cell blocks were brought into a courtyard in the civilian side of the prison. Between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m., gunmen on the roofs opened fire with automatic weapons for at least one hour.In total over the two days, more than 1,200 prisoners lost their lives.

AbdallahSanussi is currently detained in Mauritania and Libya is trying to gain custody.He is also wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity during the 2011 conflict and by France for his alleged involvement in the destruction of an Air France passenger plane in 1989.

The bodies of the killed prisoners were apparently buried inside the prison, but were removed a few years later, former prisoners said. The location of the bodies remains unknown.

The Gaddafi government kept the mass killing a secret until 2001, when it began to inform some families of the victims.

The Abu Salim massacre provided a spark for the February 2011 uprising that overthrew Gaddafi.The arrest of a leader of the association of victims’ families on February 15 in Benghazi led to protests that quickly spread when the government responded with force.