Human rights organizations say hundreds of Libyan rebels have gone missing since the uprising against leader Moammar Gadhafi began in February. Relatives fear they have been captured by forces loyal to the long-time strongman and are being tortured and killed.
The Libyan Red Crescent is compiling a list of the opposition fighters who are missing. At least 400 rebels have gone missing since February, although exact numbers are difficult to pin down because many parts of the country are cut off from communication.
Family members are also too afraid to provide information about missing relatives out of fear of reprisals from the Gadhafi regime.
Human rights investigators suspect that Gadhafi's forces are capturing rebels as they retreat from fighting, and are taking them to his stronghold of Sirte.
Nasser Ali believes his brother, Saad, is being held in the city and fears he has had to endure torture at the hands of his captors.
"Gadhafi regime, we know him very well," Ali told Â鶹´«Ã½. "He has no limit."
There are thousands of unresolved missing persons cases from Gadhafi's 42 years of iron-fisted rule. Of the missing rebels, only a handful are known to have returned home safely.
A makeshift missing-persons catalogue has gone up at a hospital in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, where family members search for their loved ones.
More than a month ago, Ahmed Hussein's mother begged him not to join the rebel army. Nadia Hussein says no one knows if Ahmed is dead or alive. But he is all she thinks about from morning to night.
With a report from CTV's South Asia Bureau Chief Janis Mackey Frayer
