Tripoli, Libya - A family member of of five Libyans killed on 19 June by a NATO bombing raid on Arada, a residential neighbourhood in the eastern suburbs of Tripoli, has announced she will institute a lawsuit against the Organization for crimes against humanity. In a statement read on Friday on Libyan television, Mrs. Hana Al-Gharari requested the formation of an international commission of inquiry to investigate the destruction of houses in the neighbourhood of Arada. She stressed her family's right to seek compensation from NATO because of the massacre of its members in their sleep.

Mrs. Al-Gharari refuted NATO's allegations of protection of civilians, saying the images of destruction of houses in her neighbourhood broadcast by world television networks showed the hypocrisy of these claims.

NATO planes in the early hours of last Sunday bombed the neighbourhood of Arada, in the Souk Al-Jumaa district, killing nine civilians, including five members of Mrs. Al-Gharari's family, and injuring 18 others.

Pana 26/06/2011