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Libya: 1. Information on Exit and Return; 2. Situation of students returning from abroad

In its February 1989 country report, the U.S. Department of State maintained that "the regime's policy of `physical liquidation' of Libyan political opponents abroad was not in evidence in 1988, as the regime encouraged exiles to return to Libya." [ U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1988, p. 1419.] The physical liquidation policy did include students, but primarily dealt with political opposition. The physical liquidation of Libyan political opponents was first announced in February 1980, and was reiterated during the 1980s. [ Amnesty International, Libya: Further Attacks on Exiled Political Opponents, AI Index: MDE 19/04/87, 15 July 1987.] In a speech on 14 January 1986, Qaddafi stated that "Libyan Muslim Brothers... Libyan Ba'athists, Libyan monarchists, runaway entrepreneurs and middlemen, and drop-out students...they collaborate with American intelligence against their own country...If we find them abroad we kill them, if they come here we throw them in the streets, we treat them as dogs." [ Amnesty International, Libya: Further Attacks on Exiled Political Opponents, AI Index: MDE 19/04/87, 15 July 1987.]

Amnesty International reports that 25 suspected Libyan opponents died between March 1980 and June 1987, and "in most cases the victims were active opponents of the present Libyan authorities, either individually or as members of opposition groups, including groups which advocate or practice armed struggle. Others were known to be sympathetic to the opposition or were merely suspected of being so. Among them were businessmen, students and former diplomats and other government officials." [ Ibid.] However, according to the U.S. Department of State, there were no reports of assassination attempts against Libyan exiles in 1988. [ U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1988, p. 1419.]

On 2 March 1988, Qaddafi called for the abolition of the death penalty, [ Amnesty International, Libya: Amnesty International Mission to the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, MDE 19/WU 01/88/External, 8 June 1988.] but the Libyan people and their representatives at a session of the General People's Congress (GPC) in June 1988 did not ratify the total abolition of the death penalty. [ Amnesty International, Amnesty International Welcomes Latest Moves to Improve Human Rights in Libya, 20 June 1988.] At that time, the "physical liquidation policy" was apparently still in effect, because Amnesty International delegates to the Congress made an unsuccessful appeal for an official end to the policy. [ Ibid, p. 2.] The Libyan GPC adopted the "Great Green Document on Human Rights in the Era of the Masses" on 12 June 1988, signalling an improvement in human rights conditions in Libya. The Amnesty International Report 1989 asserts that the death penalty was abolished in June 1988, and that the "physical liquidation" of political opponents was officially said to have ended. [ Amnesty International, Amnesty International Report 1989, (New York: Amnesty International Publications, 1989), p. 269.]

On 10 March 1988, the General People's Congress of Libya announced a number of reforms, including: allowing Libyans the freedom to travel and live abroad, the release of political prisoners, the abolition of the Revolutionary Courts, and a guarantee for human rights. [ "Gaddafi Stays the Course," The Middle East, No. 173, March 1989, p.6.] In September 1988, Qaddafi condemned the Revolutionary Courts for the "imprisonment, torture, and murder of innocent people". [ Ibid., p.7.] Libyan exiles from abroad have been encouraged to return home, though political opponents were being executed as late as February 1988. [ US Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1988, (Washington: US Government Printing Office, 1989), p.1419.] Political opponents of Qaddafi are "theoretically" protected when they return to Libya, "so long as they are prepared to repent," but this policy is viewed by some critics of the Qaddafi regime as an obligation or threat, not a right. [ U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1988, p. 1423.] Although some sources maintain that there are no particular sanctions against returnees, [ External Affairs, 12 March 1989.] there is evidence that students who returned to Libya as late as 1987 were subjected to interrogation by the authorities. [ Amnesty International, "Libya: Summary of Amnesty International's Prisoner Concerns", Amnesty International, MDE 19/05/87, 26 October 1987.] Amnesty International lists a number of individuals who were arrested between 1982 and 1984 in Benghazi, after having studied abroad in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the USSR. [ Amnesty International, MDE 19/05/87.]

Attachments:

-               Hurst Hannum, The Right to Leave and Return in International Law and Practice, Dordrecht: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1987.

-               Amnesty International, Libya Arrest of Possible Prisoners of Conscience, (AI Index: MDE 19/02/89), August 1989.

-               Amnesty International, Libya: Summary of Amnesty International's Prisoners Concerns (AI Index: MDE 19/05/87), 26 October 1987.

-               Amnesty International, Amnesty International Report 1989, New York: Amnesty International Publications, 1989.

-               Henry Degenhardt, Revolutionary and Dissident Movements, London: Longman Group UK Ltd., 1988.

The following two articles indicate a more conciliatory attitude by the Libyan government in recent months:

-               Adel Darwish, "Gaddafi's Garbled Message", The Middle East, December 1989.

-               Alan George, "Any Old Excuse Will Do", The Middle East, August 1989.