A French company called Nexa Technologies sold Haftar a surveillance system known as ‘Alpha max’ capable of intercepting phone calls in Libya.
Nexa Technologies, déjà poursuivie pour avoir vendu un système du même genre à l’Egypte, est soupçonnée d’avoir fait affaire avec le chef militaire libyen, violant un embargo des Nations unies.
www.lemonde.fr
English Translation:
Libya: French company accused of selling electronic surveillance system to Marshal Haftar
Nexa Technologies, already sued for selling a similar system to Egypt, is suspected of doing business with the Libyan military leader, violating a United Nations embargo.
The world
Posted today at 18:58, updated at 19:28
Reading time 1 min.
Marshal Khalifa Haftar signs the form to run for the Libyan presidential election on November 16. KHALIFA HAFTAR? S MEDIA OFFICE / VIA REUTERS
Investigators from the Central Office for the Fight Against Crimes Against Humanity, Genocide and War Crimes (OCLCH) discovered in June that the French company Nexa Technologies had illegally sold state-of-the-art surveillance equipment to the Marshal Haftar, leader of the Libyan National Army, reveals Liberation.
Nexa Technologies is suspected of having sold to the Marshal's forces a system known as "Alpha max" allowing the interception of telephone calls in a determined geographical area, through its subsidiary in the United Arab Emirates. However, such a sale is illegal: since 2011 Libya has been under an embargo prohibiting the export of weapons and surveillance systems. According to information from Liberation, executives of Nexa Technologies told investigators that the sale was successful, but that the equipment never reached Libya - it would have remained stranded in Dubai.
"Complicity in acts of torture"
Nexa Technologies and its previous version, Amesys (until the 2010s), are already at the heart of several procedures for the sale of telephone or Internet surveillance tools to Muammar Gaddafi's Libya and to Egypt of Marshal Al-Sisi. These tools have been used directly by these regimes to suppress their opponents, say several NGOs who have filed complaints against the company. Since last June, a procedure for "complicity in acts of torture and enforced disappearances" has targeted Nexa Technologies executives for the sale of its tools to Egypt and a former Amesys executive has been indicted for "complicity in 'acts of torture' for its sales of equipment to Gaddafi's Libya.
Marshal Haftar, leading a military offensive on Tripoli in 2019 and 2020, has finally given up on conquering the country by force from his stronghold in the east. He announced his candidacy for the presidential election scheduled for December 24 in mid-November. Suspected of abuses and the subject of complaints, including in France, the marshal has benefited in recent years from the discreet support of Paris - in early 2020, he was received at the Elysee Palace, during a meeting that did not appear not on the official agenda.
