.- The death toll resulting from the repression of demonstrations in Libya to demand democratic reform amounted to "at least 233, according to the latest figures provided by Human Rights Watch (HRW). HRW quoted medical sources and others to give this figure, and asked the African Union and Arab and Western countries that want to rush the Tripoli government to stop the repression.
"There is a potential catastrophe for human rights in Libya, at a time when protesters faced a third day of the shooting and death," said Sarah Leah Whitson, director of HRW's Middle East and North Africa . "Libya is trying to impose a news blackout, but can not hide the killing," Whitson said in a statement.
Eyewitnesses told this organization that at least 10 thousand people gathered today in demonstrations in Benghazi after the funeral in memory of the 84 people killed the day before. The witnesses agreed that when the march reached the height of Katiba Bu Omar El Fadil, a formal forum that includes one of the residence of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and is heavily guarded, yellow berets military officers began firing indiscriminately into the crowd.
HRW called on the international community to publicly ask Tripoli to the "unlawful use of force against peaceful demonstrators" and announcing his intention to prosecute those responsible for violating international law. He also called for an embargo on exports of arms and security equipment to Libya and to regain access to internet, suspended indefinitely from Friday.
HRW denounced the arrest last Abdelhafiz ghogh, one of the best known lawyers in Benghazi, which represented families of victims of repression in the Abu Salim prison in 1996. The arrest is the seventeenth of activists, lawyers and former political prisoners since the start of the protests.
"In 1996, the Libyan authorities thousand 200 prisoners killed in one day in Abu Salim prison and still have not acknowledged any wrongdoing that day," said Whitson. "Today the Libyan Government has shown the world that is still employing a ruthless brutality against its people," he added.
Amnesty International (AI), meanwhile, said today that "more than a hundred people have died" in Libya citizen protests demanding political reform and warned that there could be "foreign mercenaries" to participate in repression. "It is killing large numbers of people and is increasingly alarming situation," he said in a statement Malcolm Smart, director of AI's Middle East and North Africa.
Smart claimed that "the forces loyal to Colonel Gadhafi are using lethal force against demonstrators calling for a change" and said the consequences "are entirely predictable." "It seems that the Libyan leader may have ordered his forces to stop the protesters at any price, and that price is being paid with the lives of Libyans," he said.
"The latest reports speak of Benghazi Libyan killed by automatic weapons and other weapons that handle most compelling new troops, possibly including foreign mercenaries who have been sent specifically to quell the protests," said Smart. 
"There is a potential catastrophe for human rights in Libya, at a time when protesters faced a third day of the shooting and death," said Sarah Leah Whitson, director of HRW's Middle East and North Africa . "Libya is trying to impose a news blackout, but can not hide the killing," Whitson said in a statement.
Eyewitnesses told this organization that at least 10 thousand people gathered today in demonstrations in Benghazi after the funeral in memory of the 84 people killed the day before. The witnesses agreed that when the march reached the height of Katiba Bu Omar El Fadil, a formal forum that includes one of the residence of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and is heavily guarded, yellow berets military officers began firing indiscriminately into the crowd.
HRW called on the international community to publicly ask Tripoli to the "unlawful use of force against peaceful demonstrators" and announcing his intention to prosecute those responsible for violating international law. He also called for an embargo on exports of arms and security equipment to Libya and to regain access to internet, suspended indefinitely from Friday.
HRW denounced the arrest last Abdelhafiz ghogh, one of the best known lawyers in Benghazi, which represented families of victims of repression in the Abu Salim prison in 1996. The arrest is the seventeenth of activists, lawyers and former political prisoners since the start of the protests.
"In 1996, the Libyan authorities thousand 200 prisoners killed in one day in Abu Salim prison and still have not acknowledged any wrongdoing that day," said Whitson. "Today the Libyan Government has shown the world that is still employing a ruthless brutality against its people," he added.
Amnesty International (AI), meanwhile, said today that "more than a hundred people have died" in Libya citizen protests demanding political reform and warned that there could be "foreign mercenaries" to participate in repression. "It is killing large numbers of people and is increasingly alarming situation," he said in a statement Malcolm Smart, director of AI's Middle East and North Africa.
Smart claimed that "the forces loyal to Colonel Gadhafi are using lethal force against demonstrators calling for a change" and said the consequences "are entirely predictable." "It seems that the Libyan leader may have ordered his forces to stop the protesters at any price, and that price is being paid with the lives of Libyans," he said.
"The latest reports speak of Benghazi Libyan killed by automatic weapons and other weapons that handle most compelling new troops, possibly including foreign mercenaries who have been sent specifically to quell the protests," said Smart.
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