By Hannah Allam

Fifty-three bodies discovered over the weekend were those of loyalists of former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi who appeared to have been executed after capture, the latest in a string of extrajudicial attacks attributed to revolutionary fighters from the western city of Misrata, a human rights group said Monday....

Any findings that paint the Misrata fighters in a less-than-favorable light are sure to rile emotions in the city, potentially complicating the process of forming a government. Human rights groups say the case of Misrata will be a litmus test for the council's ability to fulfill promises of a Libya that submits to the rule of law.

Matt Pennington, a Refugees International researcher who visited Misrata earlier this month, said he saw or documented several disturbing incidents involving the local fighters, particularly their treatment of black Libyans from the nearby village of Tawergha and any other blacks they accused of being African mercenaries for Gadhafi.

Pennington, responding by email to questions, said the main concern was that black Libyans and sub-Saharan Africans "will remain exposed to revenge attacks by Misrata brigades — who will only be emboldened by this pronounced sense of triumphalism."
"The NTC needs to get out in front of the Libyan public and make clear that score-settling and revenge attacks will not be tolerated in the 'new' Libya," Pennington said, "and that predatory units will be investigated and brought to trial."

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