Human Rights Watch has said Libyan prison authorities should investigate the alleged abuse of a son of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi and other inmates.

The US-based group said a video made available by news website Clearnews apparently showed guards beating Al-Saadi Gaddafi on the soles of his feet during an interrogation at al-Hadba prison in Tripoli.

Other prisoners were seen in the background crying out in pain from being beaten as well.

Gaddafi's son has been in pretrial detention since authorities in Niger extradited him to Libya in 2014.

Libya is bitterly divided between rival governments in its east and west.

Al-Hadba is under the control of forces allied with the Islamist-backed Tripoli government, which opposes the Tobruk-based internationally recognised government.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.