GENEVA – The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Friday condemned as illegal and excessively heavy-handed the response of a number of governments in the Middle East and North Africa to the legitimate demands of their people.
“The use of lethal force by security personnel in Libya has reportedly led to the death of more than 20 protestors,” Navi Pillay said. “This is a country where the human rights situation has generally been very closed to international scrutiny, including by us, but much of the population seems nevertheless to have the same human rights aspirations as people everywhere else.”
Pillay expressed deep regret for the deaths in recent weeks of protestors in Algeria, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Libya and Yemen, adding that she was particularly troubled by targeted attacks by security forces on certain professions.
