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“This is unacceptable. Our role is to provide medical care to war casualties and sick detainees, not to repeatedly treat the same patients between torture sessions.”

The agency said it has raised the issue with the authorities in Misrata and with the national army. “No action was taken,” said Stokes. “We have therefore come to the decision to suspend our medical activities in the detention centers.”

Reports of the mistreatment and disappearances of suspected Gaddafi loyalists are embarrassing for Libya’s ruling National Transitional Council, which has vowed to make a break with practices under Gaddafi and respect human rights.

The allegations are also awkward for the Western powers which backed the anti-Gaddafi rebellion and helped install Libya’s new leaders.

An official with the Libyan government said it paid attention to all credible reports of abuse.

“There is no doubt that there are acts of violation of human rights but these are to do with the mentality of the people who are in charge of these prisons,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.

“Neither the government, nor the NTC, nor any Libyan group supports these acts. These actions are individual acts and the authorities will take a very serious view of them.”

DETAINEE “BEATEN AND WHIPPED”

But the ability of the government in Tripoli to rein in torture is limited because, in most cases, it is carried out by locally based militias who are outside the NTC’s chain of command.