Libya's Prisoners of War

May 23, 2011 from Al Jazeera English

An unknown number of fighters from the Libyan conflict have been captured and have effectively become prisoners of war. Al Jazeera has been given exclusive access to a temporary detention centre in Zintan, located in the country's western mountains, where opposition fighters are holding some of Gaddafi's men. We are not showing their faces to protect their identities. Al Jazeera's Hoda Abdel Hamid reports.

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Libya

Libya, officially the State of Libya, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west. With an area of almost 1.8 mill... Explore this topic

Prisoner of war

A prisoner of war is a person, whether combatant or non-combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase is dated 1660. Captor states hold captured combatants and non-combatants in cont... Explore this topic

Az Zintan

Zintan is one of the biggest cities in north western Libya, situated roughly 136 kilometres southwest of Tripoli, in the Nafusa Mountains area. The city and its surrounding area has a population of approximately 50,000. Explore this topic

Muammar Gaddafi

Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, commonly known as Colonel Gaddafi, was a Libyan revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He served as the ruler of the Libyan Arab Republic from 1969 to 1977 and then the "Brother Leader" of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya from 1977 ... Explore this topic

2011 Libyan Uprising

The Libyan civil war, also referred to as the Libyan revolution was a 2011 armed conflict in the North African state of Libya, fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and those seeking to oust his government. The war was preceded by protests in Benghazi beginnin... Explore this topic

Al Jazeera English

Al Jazeera English is an international 24-hour English-language news and current affairs TV channel headquartered in Doha, Qatar. It is the sister channel of the Arabic-language Al Jazeera. The station broadcasts news features and analysis, documentaries, live debates, current... Explore this topic

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Libya

Az Zintan

Prisoner of war

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