Amnesty International has accused forces loyal to Col. Muammar Gaddafi and the Libyan rebels of committing war crimes. Amnesty warns that Libya risks descending into a bloody cycle of attacks and reprisals unless order can be established. Claudio Cordone is Amnesty’s senior director for research and regional programs.

Claudio Cordone of Amnesty International: “This report covers roughly the last six months of basically the battle for Libya, and we looked at abuses from the side of the Gaddafi forces, many war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity, but also there have been abuses on the part of the fighters who oppose Colonel Gaddafi and that have included, especially in initial days, people that have been lynched, whether Gaddafi soldiers, and also in the following weeks people suspected of having been part of the Gaddafi security forces, so-called mercenaries—many black Africans are being automatically assumed to be mercenaries—and others. And we are concerned now about the situation in the prison and in the detention centers.”