Mahmoud al-Werfalli

Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf al-Werfalli (; 1978 – 24 March 2021) was a Libyan general, commander in al-Saiqa, an elite unit of the Libyan National Army, one of the warring factions in Libya's civil war since 2014. Al-Werfalli was indicted in 2017 in the International Criminal Court for the war crimes of murder and ordering the murder of non-combatants under article 8(2)(c)(i) of the Rome Statute.

Childhood Al-Werfalli was born in 1978.

Military career Al-Werfalli began his career in the Libyan Army in 2000 after graduating from the country's military college. He eventually became a member of the elite al-Saiqa unit and remained a member when the Libyan Civil War against Gaddafi's rule began in 2011. In total 7 videos were published. One video in particular allegedly depicted the execution of 20 men. Al-Werfalli's actions were singled out by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, which documented several of these incidents and called for a full investigation.

International Criminal Court charge Mahmoud al-Werfalli was indicted on 15 August 2017 with the war crime of murder with regard to the situation in Libya. The arrest warrant against him alleges that he "appears to be directly responsible for the killing of, in total, 33 persons in Benghazi or surrounding areas, between on or before 3 June 2016 and on or around 17 July 2017, either by personally killing them or by ordering their execution."

On 24 January 2018, he was accused of executing 10 prisoners in Benghazi. Automatically after that, an Interpol red notice against him, on behalf of International Criminal Court, was issued.

Sanctions In December 2019, the US Treasury Department included Al-Werfalli on its sanctions list, accusing him of committing serious human rights violations.

In its statement, the US Treasury said that Al-Werfalli was filmed on January 24, 2018, "carrying out a mass execution of ten unarmed detainees in Benghazi. After each detainee was shot in the head one by one, Al-Werfalli fired freely on a group of ten detainees who were executed."

In September 2020, he was also sanctioned by the EU, for the same criminal charges.

Assassination On 24 March 2021, Libyan media quoted a spokesman for the "Libyan National Army" as confirming that "the military commander, Mahmoud Al-Werfalli, was killed in Benghazi."

Al-Werfalli died after his car was hit by bullets near Al-Arab Medical University in Benghazi. His brother was injured in the attack and was taken to intensive care.