Tag Archives: Libya
15 January 2013
On 13 December 2012, it was announced that the United Kingdom (UK) agreed to pay 2.2 million pound to Mr. al-Saadi, a Libyan dissident who was forcibly transferred together with his family from Hong Kong to Gaddafi’s Libya in 2004, where Mr. al-Saadi was imprisoned and tortured.
The al-Saadi family argued MI6 was ‘instrumental in their kidnap’ and claim their rendition was a ‘joint UK-US-Libyan operation.’ Documents saying the UK helped to organise the rendition were found in the office of Gaddafi’s spy chief in Libya after the overthrow of Gaddafi. The UK government confirmed the settlement, but stated there was ‘no admission of liability and no finding by any court of liability.’
Source: BBC | UK pays £2.2m to settle Libyan rendition claim
Source: Al Jazeera | UK pays $3.5m to settle Libya rendition claim
10 September 2012
On 6 September 2012, Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a report on torture and rendition to Libya during Gaddafi’s regime, entitled Delivered Into Enemy Hands: US-led Abuse and Rendition of Opponents to Gaddafi’s Libya.
The report is based on secret documents that were found after the fall of Tripoli, showing ‘a high level of cooperation between the Gaddafi government in Libya and US and the UK in the renditions discussed in the report.’
According to HRW, the documents and interviews ‘establish that, following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the US, with aid from the United Kingdom and countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, arrested and held without charge a number of LIFG [Libyan Islamic Fighting Group] members living outside Libya, and eventually rendered them to the Libyan government.’
Source: Human Rights Watch | US: Torture and Rendition to Gaddafi’s Libya
24 June 2012
The Italian paper La Stampa has made public the text of the agreement, signed between Libya and Italy in April 2012 to prevent undocumented migrants from leaving Libya. The agreement states that Libya should reinforce its land and maritime borders in order to counter the departure of migrants from its territory.
Various forms of collaboration between Italy and Libya are foreseen in the agreement, for instance, training of Libyan police and border personnel by Italy and Italian assistance in strengthening controls of Libya’s borders and coastal patrols, through providing technical means and equipment. Libya’s borders will be manned and operated by the Libyan authorities. Furthermore, according to the agreement, procedures facilitating voluntary return of irregular migrants would be coordinated with the International Organisation for Migration.
Source: Amnesty International | Italy must sink agreements with Libya on migration control
21 May 2012
In the lead-up to the 2012 summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Russian Foreign Ministry has called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to look into all cases of NATO airstrikes in Libya that resulted in civilian deaths.
“We welcome the decision of ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo to consider alleged violations of international humanitarian law,” Foreign Ministry human rights spokesman Konstantin Dolgov said in a statement posted on the ministry’s website. “We presume that the ICC will consider all cases of NATO bombing that caused civilian casualties … An impartial international investigation into the effects of NATO airstrikes during Operation United Defender in Libya is necessary to prevent such tragedies in the future,” the statement continued.
NATO carried out airstrikes last year under UN Security Council resolution 1970, which was passed to protect Libyan civilians from the retaliation by the Gaddafi regime.
Source: UPI | Russia wants ICC to examine NATO bombings
Source: RAPSI | Russia calls on ICC to consider NATO air campaign in Libya
3 May 2012
The Human Rights Committee found that Libya has violated the rights of a Bulgarian doctor of Palestinian origin under the ICCPR. Ashraf el Hagog was at the centre of the Libyan AIDS scandal, in which he and five Bulgarian nurses were accused of deliberately infecting 426 babies with HIV. The HRC found violations of Articles 7, 9 and 14 ICCPR. It considered that Libya had to provide Al Hagog with an effective remedy, including providing him with appropriate reparation, including compensation, and initiating criminal prosecution against those responsible for the treatment.
Only a few weeks earlier a Dutch court had awarded compensation claims against the individual authors of the acts (see: SHARES News | Dutch court awards claim against 12 former Libyan government officials for torture).
Source: Human Right Committee, Communication No 1755/2008, Views adopted by the Committee at its 104th session, 12 to 30 March 2012 (CCPR/C/104/D/1755/2008) [pdf]