Amnesty International Report 1994 - Libya

Five prisoners of conscience held since 1973 continued to serve life sentences. Scores of suspected government opponents, some of them accused of participating in an alleged military revolt, were arrested during the year. Over 500 other suspected government opponents arrested in previous years, including possible prisoners of conscience, continued to be held apparently without charge or trial. Seventeen political prisoners continued serving sentences imposed after unfair trials. The use of torture by security forces continued to be reported. Summary executions were reported in October. UN sanctions banning air travel and arms sales and restricting Libya's diplomatic presence abroad, which were imposed in April 1992, were still in place at the end of the 1993. The sanctions were imposed in the light of the Libyan Government's refusal to hand over two Libyan nationals to British or US authorities who wished to bring them to trial. The two men were accused of planting the bomb which destroyed a civilian airliner in flight in 1988 over Lockerbie in the United Kingdom, killing 270 people. The Libyan Government, which does not have an extradition treaty with either country, in effect refused to hand over the two men claiming that they would not receive a fair trial. In June and again in September the Libyan leader, Colonel Mu'ammar Gaddafi, called publicly for the country's legislature to introduce judicial punishments of amputation for repeated theft and flogging for prostitution and adultery. Amnesty International considers both punishments to constitute cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. Colonel Gaddafi also called for the scope of the death penalty to be extended to punish people found guilty of drinking alcohol and those deemed to be "heretics". Such changes in legislation had not been effected by the end of the year. Between January and October, scores of suspected government opponents were arrested in Tripoli, Benghazi and other cities. All those arrested were alleged members or supporters of banned Islamist opposition groups; many of them had fought against Soviet forces in Afghanistan between 1979 and 1989. Most remained in secret unacknowledged detention at the end of the year, apparently without charge or trial. Among them was 'Ali Haroun al-Twati al-Badri, a sergeant-major in the police force arrested in January and believed to be held in a secret detention centre in al-Hawwari district of Tripoli. In another case, a high-school student, 'Imad al-Saqr, was arrested in June in Tripoli and was believed to be held in Abu Salim Prison. In October scores of military and police personnel as well as civilians were arrested following an alleged military revolt in Misrata and Bani Walid. It was not possible to obtain information regarding their fate and whereabouts by the end of the year. However, among them were reportedly nine colonels, including Muhammad 'Abdul-'Ati al-Buma, Muhammad al-Nahaysi and al-Muftah al-Qarrub. Five prisoners of conscience, all suspected members of the prohibited Islamic Liberation Party, continued to serve life sentences in Abu-Salim Prison in Tripoli (see Amnesty International Reports 1991 to 1993). They included al-'Ajili Muhammad 'Abdul-Rahman al-Azhari, an engineer arrested in Tripoli in 1973. In June approximately 400 people, among them possible prisoners of conscience, were detained in various places along Libya's border upon their return from a pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The pilgrims had made their way to Mecca by land or sea, contradicting government claims that Saudi Arabia, which had complied with the UN ban on air travel, had closed its doors to all Libyan pilgrims. The pilgrims were held for two to three weeks without charge or trial, apparently as a punishment for contradicting government claims. Over 500 political prisoners, including possible prisoners of conscience, were still detained without charge or trial at the end of 1993. The majority had been held incommunicado since their arrest in previous years. Most were detained between January 1989 and May 1991 during a crack-down on outlawed Islamist groups (see Amnesty International Reports 1992 and 1993). Among them were 'Abdul-Naser al-Bashir Abu-Lseyen, a doctor who was arrested in January 1989 at his home in Suq al-Jum'a, and 'Abdul-Salam al-Duwadi, a secondary school teacher and preacher in a mosque in Sibrata, who was arrested the same month after dawn prayers. Around 80 others still held had been arrested between 1974 and 1986, most of them following an armed clash in May 1984 at Bab al-'Aziziya between the security forces and members of the opposition National Front for the Salvation of Libya (see previous Amnesty International Reports). They included Rahil al-Gaddafi Yusuf al-Bar'asi, a professor at Gar-Yunis University in Benghazi, and 'Abdul-Mun'im Qasem al-Najjar, a sociology lecturer at the University of Tripoli. Both were believed to be held in Abu-Salim Prison in Tripoli. Seventeen government opponents sentenced to life imprisonment after unfair trials in previous years remained in Abu-Salim Prison in Tripoli (see Amnesty International Reports 1991 to 1993). 'Abdullah Menina, arrested in Benghazi in May 1984, remained in detention despite having been tried and acquitted in 1985 (see previous Amnesty International Reports). Two political prisoners, 'Abdul-Hadi Ghafir and Fahim al-Tajuri, held since 1984 and 1989 respectively, were released in July. According to reports, neither had been formally charged or tried. Torture and ill-treatment by the security forces continued to be reported. Among the victims were said to be scores of people arrested in the aftermath of an alleged military revolt in October (see above). There were allegations that officers who led the revolt were summarily executed, but this could not be confirmed by the end of the year. In December a prominent government opponent "disappeared" in Cairo, Egypt, following his reported abduction by Libyan government agents. Mansur Kikhiya, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs, was in Cairo to attend the General Conference of the Arab Organization for Human Rights, during which he was re-elected to its Executive Board. The Egyptian authorities launched an investigation into his "disappearance", but the outcome and the fate and whereabouts of Mansur Kikhiya were not known by the end of the year. In January the government invited Amnesty International to visit Libya. Amnesty International welcomed this initiative but before setting a date for the visit requested information about some of the many concerns and cases it had raised with the government over several years. No response had been received by the end of the year. During the year Amnesty International continued to appeal for the immediate and unconditional release of all prisoners of conscience and for the fair trial or release of the hundreds of other political prisoners. In July the organization publicly appealed to the government not to introduce the judicial punishments of amputation and flogging, or to extend the scope of the death penalty. In December Amnesty International sought assurance from Colonel Gaddafi that Mansur Kikhiya had not been abducted and taken back to Libya.