Rights activists and dissidents ask Sweden to explain deportation of Libyan dissident

Rights activists and dissidents ask Sweden to explain deportation of Libyan dissident

Libyan rights activists and dissidents called on the Dutch authorities not to turn over a dissident Libyan national to the Libyan authorities, fearing that he will meet the same fate as another Libyan who died two days ago in a Libyan prison after being tortured, less than three weeks after he was turned over by the Swedish authorities.
These rights activists told Asharq al-Awsat that on May 5 immigration authorities in Sweden turned over Libyan national Mohammed Adel Abu Ali to the Libyan authorities after he had lived for six years in Sweden, totally ignoring warnings from international and Libyan human rights organizations that this would involve grave violations by the Libyan security establishment. Several Libyan rights organizations abroad confirmed that Abu Ali died as a result of torture by security authorities in Libya. He was a member of the al-Tebu Front for the Salvation of Libya, which is opposed to the regime of Libyan leader, Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi.

Attorney al-Sharef al-Ghiryani, the secretary-general of the Libyan Federation to Defend Human Rights, told Asharq al-Awsat in a telephone interview from his office in Germany that he is afraid that the Dutch authorities will deport Libyan national Ahmed Abdullah Abd al-Rahman. Abd al-Rahman recently came to him fleeing an extradition order from the Swedish authorities, fearing the same fate as Abu Ali.

Eissa Abd al-Mejid Mansour, the head of the al-Tebu Front for the Salvation of Libya, told Asharq al-Awsat from his office in Oslo that the Office of External Security in Tariq al-Sawani informed the family of the victim, who was a member of the Tebu tribal group from al-Beida, that he had died and asked the family to come claim the body. Al-Ghiryani said that political dissidents who were lucky enough to escape abroad had not escaped persecution by the regime, citing the liquidations that took place in the 1980s and 90s in European streets and squares and the gallows set up in public squares and university campuses in Libya. Al-Sharef was not surprised that the Libyan security authorities had convinced several countries to harass Libyans seeking political asylum, which is guaranteed under international human rights charters and conventions.

He did not think that what happened in Sweden went beyond this framework. He said that a Swedish committee went to Libya several years ago to examine the reality of freedoms and human rights there. They were met by a committee from the al-Qaddafi Development Foundation, run by engineer Seif al-Islam, the second son of Libyan leader Col. Muammar al-Qaddafi.

Source: www.akhbar-libya.com
May 31, 2008