Children have not been spared. Some have been “arrested” alone; others have been taken along with their relatives. They have been held in the same facilities with adults, and treated as adults. Among the children interviewed by Amnesty International were Libyan “volunteers” and foreign nationals suspected of being mercenaries.
Hundreds of people have been seized at their homes, workplaces and checkpoints or simply from the streets.
Many have then been beaten with sticks and rifle butts, kicked, punched and insulted, at times while
blindfolded and handcuffed. In some cases, detainees said they were shot in the legs after capture. During
house raids, many reported that items such as mobile phones, cars, money and identity documents were taken. Sometimes, property was destroyed in what appeared to be revenge attacks against suspected al-Gaddafi loyalists.