A/HRC/40/46 related to abuses committed since 2011, including in cases where the State announced investigations and vowed that those responsible would be brought to justice. B. Obstacles to the implementation of the Libyan Political Agreement 56. The implementation of the provisions of the Libyan Political Agreement related to the administration of justice and establishment of the rule of law remained stalled until September 2018, as armed groups refused to release persons held in their custody without a legal basis or to hand them over to the judicial authorities. 57. On 17 September, the Presidency Council established a committee mandated to review the lawfulness of the detention of some 3,600 detainees held at the Mitiga detention facility controlled by the Special Deterrence Force armed group. Also in September, the Office of the Prosecutor General set up a committee with a similar mandate. According to the Office, 800 detainees had been screened by 7 November; 300 of them were reportedly released while the remainder, including some 40 women, were transferred to prisons under the Ministry of Justice. On 6 November, UNSMIL/OHCHR visited Jdeida prison, with the support of the Minister of Justice. Half of the detainees there had recently been transferred from Mitiga as part of the screening process. Some release orders by the committees have not been implemented by the Special Deterrence Force. Moreover, the review process remains limited to Mitiga prison and does not include all categories of detainees such as those accused of drug-related crime, homicide or terrorism. 58. The Libyan Political Agreement granted the authority to arrest and detain exclusively to law enforcement bodies established by law. 9 On 7 May, the Presidency Council adopted decree No. 555 of 2018, renaming the Special Deterrence Force “Deterrence Body for Combating Organized Crime and Terrorism” and granting it a nationwide remit, an independent budget and extensive powers, including of arrest, detention and surveillance. National and international stakeholders, including the High Commissioner for Human Rights, raised concerns about the decree but these remained unanswered. On 10 May, Prime Minister Fayyaz Serraj sent the decree to the Ministry of the Interior for review. However, the result of the review has not been made public and the decree remains in force. C. Arbitrary detention, deprivation of liberty, torture and ill-treatment 59. In their report Abuse Behind Bars: Arbitrary and Unlawful Detention in Libya, OHCHR and UNSMIL found that arbitrary detention, unlawful deprivation of liberty, enforced disappearances and torture and other ill-treatment remained systematic across the country. In 2018, UNSMIL conducted nine visits to prisons and detention facilities in western Libya, including in Gharyan, Misrata, Tarhuna and Tripoli. Visits were suspended between April and November due to difficulties in obtaining authorizations for access. UNSMIL was unable to conduct any visits to prisons and detention centres in eastern Libya, despite numerous requests to the Libyan National Army. 60. Armed groups, including those acting on behalf of the State or the de facto authorities in the east, carried out arbitrary arrests and detentions. Victims included individuals targeted for their tribal or family identity, opinion, or for political or financial gains. 61. According to the Judicial Police, as of end November, approximately 6,400 detainees were held in 26 official prisons. 10 Some 75 per cent were in pretrial detention, including hundreds detained since the 2011 armed conflict. The number of detainees held in facilities run by the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of the Interior or directly by armed groups remains unknown. 62. Most of those held by armed groups were either never brought before judicial authorities or were referred to judicial authorities after several delays. Detainees were often 9 10 10 Articles 26 (2), (3) and (4) and 44. Information provided to UNSMIL at a meeting with officials from the Ministry of Justice held on 16 November 2018.