Wife of slain photojournalist files complaint against Libya through UN Human Rights Committee

Penny Sukhraj-Hammerl, the widow of a photojournalist killed by forces loyal to Muammar Gadaffi, has filed a case against Libya, according to a report in Voice of America(VOA).

Her husband, Anton Hammerl, a dual citizen of Austria and South Africa, was reportedly shot dead in the Libyan desert outside of Brega on April 5, 2011. Initially, Libyan forces told Sukhraj-Hammerl he had been detained along with three other journalists, including American James Foley, who was killed by ISIS in Syria in 2014. 

However, when the three journalists were released from Libya a month later, she was told her husband had been killed. 

“After that, there was nothing. So, that was most tragic. It was awful. And that’s Day One of our world completely caving in,” she recounted to VOA.

Over the years, Libyan authorities have reportedly ignored numerous requests for information regarding Hammerl’s fate, leaving the family without closure. 

On what would have been his 55th birthday, her legal team filed a complaint against Libya at the United Nations Human Rights Committee in New York. 

“Libya has failed Anton Hammerl and his family for thirteen long years. We hope that the Committee will now vindicate their rights and hold Libya to account,” said Max du Plessis, a member of her legal team in a statement.

The complaint has two main objectives: to recover Hammerl’s remains and to bring those responsible for his killing to justice. Additionally, Sukhraj-Hammerl continues to seek answers regarding the circumstances of his death.

“I can’t give up on trying to find out what really happened and what’s become of his remains,” she told VOA. “I find it difficult to give up on wanting to know.”