An armed group associated with the Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF) arbitrarily arrested at least 50 residents of the city of Derna following a January 16, 2022, prison escape, Human Rights Watch said today.

Libyan authorities loyal to rogue general Khalifa Haftar arrested dozens of Derna residents this week following the escape of five prisoners from the infamous Ghirnata prison on Libya’s eastern coast, according to local media outlets.

A resident from Derna, identified to be Ismail Attia al-Sheikh, was found dead on Sunday with signs he had been tortured, the Libyan Crime Watch (LCW) said on Monday.

The gravesites of four Filipino oil workers who had been kidnapped and later executed by ISIS in Derna, Libya, six years ago were finally located, the Philippine Embassy in Libya informed Libya Herald. The gravesites were located on Monday with the help of the eastern Libyan authorities.

Haftar’s militias have sent a strong warning to the people of Derna, threatening to burn down their homes if slogans against ‘Operation Dignity’ or personal attacks on the character of Haftar in the form of placards or graffiti were found on the walls of their residence.

The director of the media office of the authority of finding the missing Abdelaziz Al-Jaafari has announced discovering five new locations of mass graves in Tarhouna; south of Tripoli.

A source from the city of Derna confirmed on Wednesday the death of a detainee identified to be “Hafez Al-Barani” inside the notorious Garnada Prison run by Khalifa Haftar’s militias.

Seven women from the Shiha district of Derna, east Libya, have been abducted by a militia group on Monday night, a source from the city disclosed.

At least 18 people were injured following two car bomb explosions that targeted a military unit in Libya’s eastern coastal city of Derna.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on forces loyal to Libya’s east-based Interim Government and led by Khalifa Haftar to allow aid and medical workers into the Old City neighborhood of Derna.