Libyan Prison Break: 120 Prisoners Flee Jail In Tripoli

More than 120 prisoners have escaped during a Libyan prison break in the capital of Tripoli. The prisoners, who are of various nationalities, escaped Tripoli’s al-Judaida prison.

It is not yet clear how the prison break occurred, but officials have said that they have recaptured about 60 of the escaped inmates so far, reports the BBC .

Al-Judaida is one of the largest prisons in Tripoli, and is also the jail that human rights groups have accused officials of abusing inmates.

The mass escape also comes less than one week before the first anniversary of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s death, which will mark the first year of independence from dictator rule in the country.

Khaled al-Sharif, the head of Libya’s national guard, stated that some of the prison break escapees are illegal African migrants who have been imprisoned for immigration violations. Others, however, are Libyans with criminal convictions.

Yahoo! News notes that this is not the first prison break in Libya this year, as another took place in Tripoli earlier this year. Spokesman Abdel-Monheim al-Hurr stated that no security guards were injured during the prison break, leading him to suspect that the guards may have been bribed during the escape.

Libya has been suffering from a security breakdown and a weakened judiciary system ever since last year’s eight-month-long civil war. While the country has held its first free democratic elections, its military is still largely made of militias and some prisoners in its jails have been left in their cells without charges. These prisoners have also said that the courts have not yet moved to hear their cases.

The national guard has set up checkpoints in the area to help hunt down the Libyan prison break escapees.