Not less than 29 inmates have escaped from the notorious, eastern-based Libya Gernada prison after a rioting incident on Friday.
Security sources confirmed that the police in surrounding departments could not help the Gernada prison guards control the riot. The names of the men at large were published later in a document from the prison director that was leaked to the media, calling for recapturing and bringing them back to jail.
The Deputy Minister of Interior, Faraj Agaiem, however, denied the prison break at Gernada and his media office said it was just a riot by some inmates. He stated that the rumors about the escape were fake.
Libya has been gripped by an armed conflict between rival factions following the overthrow of long-time leader Moammar Gaddafi in 2011.
Gernada prison has been rendered notorious by many local and international legal organizations after reports of torture and human rights violations of inmates whose numbers aren’t yet documented by the authorities.