In the morning of 24 February 2015, the bodies of human rights defender Ms Intissar Al Hasairi and her elderly aunt were discovered in the boot of the human rights defender’s car in Tripoli, Libya, by security forces. The human rights defender and her aunt had allegedly been shot by members of an armed group. The human rights defender had been missing since the previous evening.
[Intissar Al Hasairi was a Co-founder of Tanweer Movement, a non-political group that promotes peace and culture in Libya. The human rights defender participated in protests demanding a democratic state and respect for of the rule of law.]
Reportedly, the Islamic militias in Libya maintain a black list of human rights defenders to be targeted. The listed persons promote the idea of a democratic state or other ideologies opposed to that of the armed groups. On 20 September 2014, unidentified gunmen assassinated (http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/27323) human rights defenders teenagers Tawfik Bensaud and Sami ElKawafi. Three months before, on 26 June 2014, human rights lawyer Ms Salwa Bugaighis was shot dead in her home in Benghazi by a group of unidentified men wearing military uniforms (http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/node/26411 and https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/06/29/human-rights-lawyer-salwa-bugaighis-killed-in-libya/).
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 
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