The citizen soldiers who became heroes for toppling Colonel Muammar Gaddafi last year are now being widely blamed for Libya's woes, and stand accused of summarily executing dozens of detainees, including the dictator's son. Libya's new rulers have struggled to stamp their authority on brigades made up of ex-rebels, some of whom believe their legitimacy, forged on the front line, trumps that of the country's elected representatives. They are refusing to disarm and are snubbing the new authorities. Yesterday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report decrying the authorities' failure to bring to account former rebels who participated in dozens of extrajudicial executions in Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte, where he was captured and killed on October 20 last year. For their part, the former rebels accuse the authorities of doing too little to care for wounded veterans, and insist that there would be a security vacuum if they disarmed and went home. "We risked our lives for God and the nation, so it is up to the new authorities to prove themselves worthy of the blood of our revolutionary martyrs and wounded," said veteran fighter Osama al-Daly. "If not there will be another revolution to reset the course, meet these demands and clean up state institutions." That warning resonates loudly in the eastern city of Benghazi, cradle of the revolt that ousted Gaddafi. Militia fighters in the Mediterranean port city man checkpoints, direct traffic, escort visiting officials and guard the port and airport. Some of the former rebels proudly wear the uniform of newly created security forces. But many reject the idea of joining the regular army or police forces because they see them as full of officers once pillars of Gaddafi's regime. Benghazi security chief Ibrahim al-Burghati said rebels "closed the gap after the state's security apparatus collapsed". "The current crisis is a problem of trust because remnants of the former regime are still part of state security organs," he said. Regular members of the army and police, meanwhile, find themselves powerless in the face of better armed militias and criminal gangs, who plundered weapon depots during the war. High-ranking officials have been targeted in a wave of assassinations blamed on Islamist extremists who were released from Gaddafi's jails. The militias themselves stand accused of war crimes by HRW. Almost 70 members of Gaddafi's convoy were abused and killed after his death, HRW alleged in its report, "Death of a Dictator: Bloody Vengeance in Sirte". It includes evidence that appears to prove captured pro-Gaddafi fighters caught attempting to leave the city, including Gaddafi's son Mutassim, were murdered. Mutassim was allegedly killed after being taken to Misrata, which suffered a months-long siege by pro-government troops. He had been filmed alive in the city that day, but later footage showed him dead from a fresh wound to the throat not visible in the first video after his capture. Also killed, investigators believe, were at least 66 other members of the pro-Gaddafi convoy, who died at the nearby Mahari Hotel. Two days later the HRW team found the decomposing remains of at least 53 people at the hotel, some with their hands still tied behind their backs. "In case after case we investigated, the individuals had been videotaped alive by the opposition fighters who held them, and then found dead hours later," said Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at HRW. "It also looks as if they took Mutassim Gaddafi … to Misrata and killed him there. Our findings call into question the assertion by Libyan authorities that Muammar Gaddafi was killed in crossfire, and not after his capture." Agence France-Presse,The Guardian