Libya: Deep concern about the death in custody

Ms. Navanethem Pillay
High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations Office at Geneva
1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland
Re: Libya: Deep concern about the death in custody of human rights defender Fathi ElJahmi
Dear Ms. High Commissioner,
The Libyan League for Human Rights, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights
Defenders1, and the EuroMediterranean
Human Rights Network (EMHRN) wish to express their deep
concern about the death in custody of human rights defender Fathi ElJahmi.
In Lybia, human rights, including the right to life, continue to be violated by various means, even by
the murder of prisoners of conscience and opinion arbitrarily arrested, detained or condemned. Libya
is among the few countries which have ratified most of the international human rights instruments, but
one of the States least respectful of the letter and spirit of what they have ratified.
On 21 May 2009, Mr. Fathi ElJahmi,
Libya’s most prominent advocate of democracy and human
rights, lost his life under suspicious conditions, after the Libyan Government, in a rush and surprising
move, evacuated him to Amman, Jordan for emergency “medical care”, while he was in an allegedly
semiconscious
or comatose state and
breathing on a ventilator . It appears that Libyan security
agents accompanied Mr. ElJahmi
to Amman, Jordan. According to the information received, they
finally supervised the repatriation of his corpse and his precipitated burial in Benghazi, Libya, without
even performing an autopsy.
Our organisations fear that Mr. Fathi ElJahmi’s
evacuation was decided, wholly or partly, to avoid
any accusation or embarrassment that a death in custody might cause to the Libyan Government.
Indeed, a score of human rights organisations had repeatedly and for months requested the Libyan
Government to allow Mr. ElJahmi
to be transferred to a properly equipped medical centre but in vain.
The Libyan Government persisted, since the incarceration of Mr. ElJahmi
in October 2002, in its
refusal to treat humanely all humanitarian requests and kept Mr. ElJahmi
under inhuman detention
conditions. Mr. ElJahmi
was denied proper medical care as prescribed by independent physicians.
According to the Government’s top security officer Colonel Tohamy Khaled, Mr. ElJahmi
was in
good health condition, but he was mentally disturbed.
1 The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders is a joint programme of the International
Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT).
“Physicians for Human rights” (PHR) visited Mr. ElJahmi
twice in detention, in 2005 and in March
2008, and conducted independent medical examination of the prisoner. In 2008, PHR wrote:
“independent medical judgment has not governed the care of Mr. ElJahmi.
Not only was he
inappropriately confined in a hospital for many months he
was also placed in a psychiatric facility
without cause, and the Libyan Government never provided any evidence to support such an
intervention”. The PHR report confirmed that “Mr. ElJahmi
suffered from diabetes, hypertension, and
heart disease. At the time of PHR’s visit in March 2008, Mr. ElJahmi
remained detained in the Tripoli
Medical Center, where security officers controlled access to visitors. Mr. ElJahmi’s
hospitalisation
under guard stemmed from a May 2006 court decision, which determined him mentally unfit for trial
and ordered him detained at a psychiatric hospital. During the year spent by Mr. ElJahmi
at the
psychiatric hospital, his health significantly declined, forcing his transfer to the Tripoli Medical Center
in July 2007. Mr. ElJahmi
told PHR that during his detention in the psychiatric hospital, authorities
denied him access to needed medications and a doctor, as well as family visits”2. Human Rights
Watch, which participated in Mr. ElJahmi’s
interview, added that: “Two days before this examination
[14 March 2008], the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation, which is headed by
Saif alIslam
alGaddafi,
son of Libyan leader Colonel Mu’ammar alGaddafi,
had reported that Fathi
ElJahmi
had been released and “was now in the care of his family”. In fact he remained in State
custody at the Tripoli Medical Centre. Security officers continued to supervise him and were present
outside his room. In addition his family are kept under close surveillance and his passport has not been
returned”3.
Mr. Fathi ElJahmi
will be remembered as the first Libyan who publicly and peacefully challenged,
inside Libya, the Government known for its absolute disrespect of human rights and fundamental
freedoms, to make real reforms based on free choice through democracy and respect of human rights,
including the organisation of free and fair election, the legalisation of a free press, and the end of
detention based on political motives. Mr. El Jahmi was first arrested on 19 October 2002 and briefly
released on 12 March 2004. Two weeks later, Libyan security forces rearrested
ElJahmi
after he
spoke with the USfunded
AlHurra
television of his determination to pursue his work for democracy
in Libya and declared publicly his opposition to the way Libyan public affairs were conducted. He
languished in prison and in prison hospitals until his death on 21 May 2009 while his family members
faced ever greater harassment, including the loss of their home.
Madame Commissioner,
We fear that the precipitated transfer of Mr. ElJahmi,
under guard and in a allegedly semiconscious
,
to a medical centre in Amman could be motivated by a will to cover up a potential death in custody,
resulting from either lack of proper medical care or outright neglect. We fear that the Government
attempted through the precipitated “release” of Mr. ElJahmi
to avoid being accused of failing to fulfill
its duty to protect the life of those in its care, especially that the death in custody of Mr. ElJahmi
came
after the death in custody, in Busleem Prison, of Mr. Ali Mohamed AlFakhri
known as Mr. Ibn AlSheikh
AlLibi
who was held and tortured in secret US and Egyptian detention centers from late 2001
to at least 2005 before the CIA handed him over to Libya in 2007 or 2008. Mr. Ibn Alsheikh
was
found dead in his cell in Busleem prison in Tripoli on 9 May 2009.
Every unnatural death in custody constitutes a human rights concern and Libya should be held to
account for it pursuant to its obligations under the human rights instruments ratified by it. Therefore,
the Libyan authorities should conduct an independent investigation into all deaths occurred in custody
in Libya.
2 See Medical Evaluation of Fathi alJahmi
Conducted by Scott A. Allen, MD, Advisor to Physicians for
Human Rights, March 13 and 14, 2008, Tripoli Medical Center, Tripoli, Libya, available at:
http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/sitesearch/
search.jsp?query=aljahmi.
3 See Human Rights Watch, Lybia: Release Gravely ill Political Prisoner, January 29, 2008, available at:
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/01/29/libyareleasegravelyillpoliticalprisoner.
In view of the human rights situation that prevails in Libya, the undersigned organisations fear that the
necessary conditions for an independent investigation cannot be met. Therefore, they call upon you, in
your capacity as High Commissioner for Human Rights, to encourage any measure that could be
adopted by the UN human rights independent mechanisms in order to ensure that (a) an immediate,
effective, thorough and impartial investigation into the abovementioned
facts is conducted, (b) the
result of which must be made public, in order to identify all those responsible, bring them before a
competent , independent and impartial tribunal and apply to them the penal, civil and/or administrative
sanctions provided by the law. We all believe that, as stated by PHR, “the Libyan Government has
always asserted that it was providing the best possible care to Mr. Fathi AlJahmi.
Therefore, they
should have nothing to hide and should allow a full investigation”.
We hope that the UN human rights independent mechanisms will use the present submission within
the framework of their mandate and we request your urgent intervention on this situation. We remain
available for any additional information.
Yours sincerely,
The Libyan League for Human Rights (LLHR)
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture
(OMCT)
The EuroMediterranean
Human Rights Network (EMHRN)
CC:
Mr.
Philip Alston, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions
Mr.
Manfred Nowak, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment
Mr.
Frank William La Rue, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to
freedom of opinion and expression
Ms
Margaret Sekaggya, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders.