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By Ashraf Abdul-Wahab.
Tripoli, 24 December 2104:
A report from Congress’ Interior Committee says that 643 people were killed in Libya . . .[restrict]in 2013, mostly in assassinations and extra-judicial killings. The figure is said to be a significant increase on 2012, although no details for that year were disclosed. According to UN figures, however, there were 176 intentional homicides in Libya in 2012.
The reason given for the high level is that the country is full of guns and there is no effective police force. The result is that criminals can act with impunity and “crime is now a way of earning money”.
Although the report did not specifically state that some revolutionaries had turned to crime, it stated that most weapons remain in their hands.
It added that with quarter of a million policemen on the state’s pay roll there was one policemen for every 30 people.
In Italy, the figure is one for every 417, and one for 307 in the UK.
Another factor in the rising crime was that despite more police being trained only 29.6 percent of the revolutionaries who fought in 2011 have been integrated into the security forces.
The figure of 643 killed is thought to be on the low side. In addition to well the publicised political killings, notably in Benghazi and Derna, there have been many murders linked to related to thefts. It is not clear if it includes those killed in inter-communal clashes.
The figure of 643 give Libya a murder rate last year of 10.7, still well below that in most African countries and Latin American states. [/restrict]
