Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Libyan prisoners make torture allegations

Updated at 10:02 pm on 28 January 2012

Evidence has come to light that supporters of the former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi have been tortured in jail.

The BBC has been told by inmates at a jail in Misrata that they were beaten, whipped and given electric shocks.

None of the alleged abuse took place at the prison itself and the head of the city's military council has dismissed the allegations.

He suggested instead that Medicins Sans Frontieres and other human rights groups had their own pro-Gaddafi agenda.

The United Nations estimates that about 8500 people, most accused of being Gaddafi loyalists, are being held in prisons across Libya.

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