By Christiaan Triebert
Warning: this article contains graphic material. Update: Incident Four and Five have been geolocated.
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The Footage: Seven Incidents in Seven Videos
Al-Werfalli is charged with murder as a war crime under Article 8(2)(c)(i) of the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, which is the “Violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture”.
The charge is based on seven incidents shown in seven separate social media videos. All of these videos have been found online. Each incident and video will be presented and discussed below, following the order of the arrest warrant.
Incident One
The ICC arrest warrant states the following:
Mr Al-Werfalli, wearing camouflage trousers and carrying a weapon, is seen in a video footage to stand near a hooded, unidentified person, who is moving around an open dirt area with his arms in the air. Mr Al-Werfalli is heard saying “Put your hands up! Put your hands up! Put your hands up!”. After that, he shoots the hooded person with his left hand a number of times and the person falls on the ground. Mr Al-Werfalli approaches the body, shoots again the body on the ground for a number of times and states “You have been misled by he who did you harm. You have been misled by Satan”. The video depicting this incident was posted on Facebook on 3 June 2016.
The first video is still available online on Facebook, with a duration of 2:16. It has been watched almost 200,000 times as of writing this article, and shared over 5,000 times. The logo and the name of the Saiqa Brigades (Arabic: القوات الخاصة الليبية) is visible throughout the video.
A still of the video showing Werfalli, wearing camouflage trousers and carrying what appears to be a Russian-made PK machine gun, moments before he shoots an unidentified person.
The source is a Facebook profile under the name Mohamed Al-Ghali with Facebook identification number 100012315483959 and username hamoalgali01. It is unclear whether this profile is the original source of the video.
The accompanying text with the video claims to show the execution of a Syrian national who is a member of the so-called Islamic State (IS). In the comments section, the user uploaded a photo seemingly of the executed individual at the same scene.
The upload time of the video to Facebook is June 4, 2016, at 1:12 am local time in Benghazi. This means there is an inconsistency with the arrest warrant’s claim that it was uploaded on June 3, though this may have to do with the time Facebook displays as your local time zone based on your computer time. If you figure out what time settings your computer is in, there are plenty of useful online tools to convert different time zones.
It is unclear when this video was recorded, though it must have been before June 4, 2017.
The exact location of this open dirt area has not been found yet. You can help trying to find the exact location. Hints and possible locations can be posted on Check, where there is a specific entry for the geolocation of this video. A stitched panorama shown below may be of help.
A stitched panorama of still from the execution video gives a wider perspective of the area, perhaps allowing a geolocation. Visual clues are the buildings on the left and right edge of the photo. A large photo can be accessed by clicking on the image.
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Incident Two
The ICC arrest warrant states the following:
Mr Al-Werfalli, wearing camouflage trousers and a black t-shirt with the logo of the Al-Saiqa Brigade, and carrying a weapon, is seen in a video footage shooting with his left hand three male figures in the head. The three persons are kneeling in front of a wall with their arms tied behind their backs. After the bodies of the three men fall, Mr Al-Werfalli shoots at the bodies a few more times. Two of the victims are alleged to have been revolutionaries in Benghazi. The video depicting this incident was posted on social media on 20 March 2017.
The second video is available via YouTube as a 18-second clip, uploaded by a user named “Hassan Mahmoud” (Arabic: حسن محمود). It has been watched over 10,000 times at the time of writing this article.
Using Amnesty International’s YouTube Data Viewer, the exact upload time to YouTube can established at March 21, 2017, at 4:09 am local time in Benghazi. The date is inconsistent with the time mentioned by the ICC warrant, though this may have to do with the display date of YouTube and the actual uploading time (hence the importance of Amnesty’s tool).
It is unclear when this video was recorded.
The exact location of this street has not been found yet, but you can help trying to find the exact location. Hints and possible locations can be posted on Check, where there is a specific entry for the geolocation of this video.
Incident Three
The ICC arrest warrant states the following:
Mr Al-Werfalli, wearing camouflage trousers and a black t-shirt with the logo of the Al-Saiqa Brigade, and carrying a weapon, is seen in a video footage in a room, with others being present as well. He is standing next to an unidentified man in a white t-shirt, who is kneeling bare feet, with his hands behind his head. Mr Al-Werfalli shoots the person with his left hand in the head and continues to do so after the man falls down. The men around Mr Al-Werfalli cheer in approval and another unidentified man from the group comes forward and shoots the victim two more times. The videos depicting this incident were posted on social media on 7 and 8 May 2017.
The third video is still available online on Facebook, and its duration is 1:17. It has been watched over 32,000 times and shared 242 times at the time of writing.
The source is a Facebook profile going by name Bin Mansour with Facebook identification number 100012980119097. It is unclear whether this profile is the original uploader of the video.
The accompanying text with the video claims to show the execution of “one of the Kharijites” by Werfalli.
The upload time of the video to Facebook is May 7, 2017, at 5:12 pm local time in Benghazi, which is consistent with the time mentioned in the ICC warrant.
It is unclear when the video was recorded.
The exact location of this house has not been found yet, and may be close to impossible without insider knowledge. You can help trying to find the exact location. Hints and possible locations can be posted on Check.
To be contiuned
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Christiaan Triebert is an all-source conflict analyst with an interest in conflict and development. He has conducted fieldwork in Syria, Iraq, and Ukraine, among other countries. King’s College London and University of Groningen graduate.
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