Amnesty International Report 1997 - Libya

Five prisoners of conscience held since 1973 continued to serve life sentences. Hundreds of political prisoners, including possible prisoners of conscience, who were arrested in previous years continued to be held without charge or trial. Scores of suspected Islamist activists, including possible prisoners of conscience, were arrested during the year. Torture and ill-treatment in prisons and detention centres continued to be reported. Scores of political prisoners and detainees were shot dead by special security forces during a prison mutiny. A possible prisoner of conscience "disappeared". Two opposition activists living abroad were killed in circumstances suggesting they were extrajudicially executed. A new law increasing the scope of the death penalty was introduced. Thirty-one death sentences were reportedly commuted to life imprisonment. The UN sanctions on Libya (see previous Amnesty International Reports), imposed in 1992 in connection with the 1988 bombing of a US passenger airliner, remained in force. A new law came into effect in July widening the scope of the death penalty to include "speculation in food, clothes or housing during a state of war or blockade" and "crimes relating to drugs, alcohol and speculation in foreign currency." Around 250 Palestinian refugees, among thousands of those expelled by Libya last year (see Amnesty International Report 1996), remained in an open-air camp in no-man's land between the Libyan and Egyptian borders. Sporadic violent clashes continued between the security forces and members of Islamist armed groups, particularly in northeastern Libya. Five prisoners of conscience, arrested in 1973 and convicted of membership of the prohibited Islamic Liberation Party, continued to serve life sentences in Abu-Salim Prison in Tripoli (see previous Amnesty International Reports). Hundreds of political prisoners arrested in previous years, including possible prisoners of conscience, remained held without charge or trial (see previous Amnesty International Reports). They included members or supporters of banned Islamist groups. Jum‘a ‘Ateyqa, a lawyer, remained in administrative detention at Abu-Salim Prison. He is a diabetic and was reported to be suffering from unspecified liver problems. He had been arrested in 1989 in connection with the murder of a Libyan diplomat in Rome, Italy, in January 1985, but was acquitted by a criminal court in Tripoli in 1990. Jum‘a ‘Ateyqa had been living in exile until 1988, when he returned to Libya following a general amnesty issued by Colonel Mu‘ammar Gaddafi, the Head of State. Nurya Ahmad al-Firjani, a possible prisoner of conscience, remained held without charge or trial. She had been arrested in June 1995 after her husband, allegedly a member of an armed Islamist group, was killed during a gun battle with security forces in al-Qwarsha near Benghazi. Her daughter, ‘Ayesha, who was six months old at the time of arrest, was reported to be with her in Abu-Salim Prison. Scores of suspected Islamist activists were arrested during 1996, following clashes between the security forces and armed Islamist groups. Thuraya Mohammad al-Briki, a possible prisoner of conscience, was arrested in March after the security forces stormed her house in search of her husband, whom they believed to be an Islamist activist. She was reported to have been tortured. She was released uncharged after a few months. There were continued reports of ill-treatment in prisons and detention centres. Gasmalla ‘Osman Hamad Sharah, a Sudanese national, died in detention in al-Kufra camp, apparently as a result of lack of medical care. He was among hundreds of Sudanese and other African workers in Libya arrested in their homes and work-places in June and July and taken to Al-‘Ataba Prison in Tripoli and al-Kufra Camp, near the Sudanese border. Gasmalla Sharah had been in ill health and was reportedly receiving treatment in Tripoli Central Hospital at the time of his arrest. Scores of political prisoners and detainees were killed in Abu Salim Prison in Tripoli during a one-week mutiny which took place at the beginning of July. The mutiny was said to have been caused by the appalling conditions in the prison, including lack of medical care, inadequate hygiene, overcrowded cells and a poor diet. A number of guards were allegedly taken hostage by the prisoners, who were demanding an improvement in prison conditions. According to reports, special security forces stormed the prison, shooting and killing scores of prisoners and a number of hostages. No investigation was known to have been carried out into the incident by the end of the year. A Palestinian, a possible prisoner of conscience, "disappeared" following his arrest by the security forces. Aymam Salim Mohammad Dababish was arrested in September in Tubruq on suspicion of having connections with a Libyan Islamist opposition group. At the end of the year his whereabouts remained unknown. Ibrahim Mohammad Ibrahim Jad, who "disappeared" in the same month from the Palestinian refugee camp near Salloum, on the border between Libya and Egypt, was released by the security forces in November and returned to the camp. The fate of Mansur Kikhiya, a prominent Libyan opposition leader and human rights activist who "disappeared" in Egypt in December 1993 (see previous Amnesty International Reports), and of Jaballah Hamed Matar and ‘Izzat Youssef al-Maqrif (see Amnesty International Report 1996), who also "disappeared" in Cairo in March 1990, remained unknown at the end of the year. Information came to light during the year about ‘Abdullah Mohammad Mas‘ud al-Zubaidi, an alleged member of the Islamic Liberation Party who "disappeared" in 1982, and about Kadhim Mutasher Malih, an Iraqi national who "disappeared" in Libya in October 1993. Both were believed to have been arrested, but their subsequent fate remained unknown. Two opposition activists living abroad were killed in circumstances suggesting they were extrajudicially executed. Mohammad ben Ghali was shot dead in Los Angeles, USA, in February. ‘Amer Hisham ‘Ali Mohammad was found stabbed to death in Sliema, Malta, in August. Reports suggested that individuals acting on behalf of the Libyan Government were responsible for their deaths. Twelve of those arrested following the alleged October 1993 army rebellion in Misrata and Bani Walid (see previous Amnesty International Reports) were reportedly sentenced to death in a military court following a summary retrial at the end of December 1995. One of them, Captain Salam Deynun al-Waa‘ir, was tried in absentia. The retrial had allegedly been ordered by the authorities on the grounds that the initial sentences – which ranged from five years to life imprisonment – were too lenient. The executions had reportedly not been carried out by the end of the year. There were reports that 31 death sentences had been commuted to life imprisonment in August to mark the 28th anniversary of the 1 September revolution. Amnesty International continued to appeal for the immediate and unconditional release of prisoners of conscience and for the fair trial, or release, of all other political prisoners. The organization also called for immediate, thorough and impartial investigations into the circumstances surrounding the killings at Abu Salim Prison, the death in custody of Gasmalla ‘Osman Hamad Sharah, and the possible extrajudicial executions of Libyan opposition activists based abroad. Amnesty International welcomed the decision to commute 31 death sentences and urged Colonel Gaddafi to commute all remaining death sentences. The organization received no response to its communications.