Saturday, December 12, 2009
TRIPOLI: A foundation run by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s son Seif al-Islam catalogued an array of cases of torture, wrongful imprisonment and other abuses in a report for 2009 published on Thursday.
The Gadhafi Foundation’s report also sharply criticized the continuing domination of the print and broadcast media by the state. The few non-state media are all controlled by a publishing company run by the younger Gadhafi.
The report recorded “several flagrant violations” of human rights in Libya during the year, including “cases of torture and ill-treatment” as well as a number of “blatant and premeditated breaches of the law.”
The report, distributed to the press, condemned “all forms of torture” and called for the lifting of the “immunity granted by laws of exception to employees of various state agencies.”
It also called for a full liberalization of the media in Libya.
“Even though the current law on publications allows for the launch of privately owned titles, the restrictions and obstacles to obtaining a publishing license remain in place,” it complained.
It called for the repeal or amendment of laws restricting the setting up of non-governmental organizations.
The publication of the Gadhafi Foundation’s human rights report, its first since it was set up in 1999, came just two days before watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) is due to bring out its own report on Libya.
For the first time, the HRW report is being issued from Libya itself.
In recent years, Seif al-Islam Gadhafi has been a prominent voice for reform in Libya, advocating a freer press, a mixed economy and greater cultural rights for the country’s Berber minority.
He has also been a leading figure in Libya’s slow rapprochement with the West.
The Gadhafi Foundation called for a “transparent, just and fair” probe into the 1996 massacre at Abu Slim prison in Tripoli where at least 1,200 prisoners were gunned down, according to human-rights groups. It said a dialogue was under way with the victims’ families aimed at sealing a “national reconciliation.”
The Foundation urged the release of all prisoners who have been found innocent or who have served out their terms, accusing the authorities of not respecting court decisions.
But it said the rights’ situation was improving in Libya, where the Foundation has in recent months secured the release of dozens of jailed Islamists and the return of exiled dissidents.
TRIPOLI: A foundation run by Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s son Seif al-Islam catalogued an array of cases of torture, wrongful imprisonment and other abuses in a report for 2009 published on Thursday.
The Gadhafi Foundation’s report also sharply criticized the continuing domination of the print and broadcast media by the state. The few non-state media are all controlled by a publishing company run by the younger Gadhafi.
The report recorded “several flagrant violations” of human rights in Libya during the year, including “cases of torture and ill-treatment” as well as a number of “blatant and premeditated breaches of the law.”
The report, distributed to the press, condemned “all forms of torture” and called for the lifting of the “immunity granted by laws of exception to employees of various state agencies.”
It also called for a full liberalization of the media in Libya.
“Even though the current law on publications allows for the launch of privately owned titles, the restrictions and obstacles to obtaining a publishing license remain in place,” it complained.
It called for the repeal or amendment of laws restricting the setting up of non-governmental organizations.
The publication of the Gadhafi Foundation’s human rights report, its first since it was set up in 1999, came just two days before watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) is due to bring out its own report on Libya.
For the first time, the HRW report is being issued from Libya itself.
In recent years, Seif al-Islam Gadhafi has been a prominent voice for reform in Libya, advocating a freer press, a mixed economy and greater cultural rights for the country’s Berber minority.
He has also been a leading figure in Libya’s slow rapprochement with the West.
The Gadhafi Foundation called for a “transparent, just and fair” probe into the 1996 massacre at Abu Slim prison in Tripoli where at least 1,200 prisoners were gunned down, according to human-rights groups. It said a dialogue was under way with the victims’ families aimed at sealing a “national reconciliation.”
The Foundation urged the release of all prisoners who have been found innocent or who have served out their terms, accusing the authorities of not respecting court decisions.
But it said the rights’ situation was improving in Libya, where the Foundation has in recent months secured the release of dozens of jailed Islamists and the return of exiled dissidents.
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