HRW denounces attacks on Sufi shrines

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has denounced a series of attacks against shrines of the mystical Sufi branch of Sunni Islam in Libya by ‘extremist’ militias. ‘Sufi religious sites are under assault in Libya,’ the New York-based rights watchdog said after two attacks in the capital Tripoli over the past two months. It said unidentified assailants torched the Zawiyat Sheikha Radiya, a historic Sufi mosque in Tripoli, heavily damaging it on 28 November. Another attack in October destroyed the Sidi Abu Gharara mosque, also in Tripoli. ‘Successive interim authorities since the 2011 uprising and across Libya have failed to protect Libya's Sufi religious sites from attacks and destruction by extremist militias,’ said HRW's Eric Goldstein.