• Recommendations for Libyan Government (October, 1998)


1. Fully, publicly and impartially investigate all allegations related to summary execution, arbitrary arrest or detention and long periods of detention without trial; bring the perpetrators of these acts to justice; compensate the victims and/or the family of victims; ... 7. Ensure that all cases of alleged torture or ill treatment are investigated by animpartial body; publish the results of such investigations; ensure that officialsresponsible for torture and ill treatment are prosecuted and, if convicted,severely punished; ... 12. Suspend, without delay, and take steps to repeal the "Charter of Honour"; ... 19. Take urgent steps to allow the free operation of independent non-governmental human rights organizations.
Read the complete list of recommendations.



• Libya Urged to Investigate Executions [64th Session Report, Nov. 1998]


The Committee recommended that the Government fully, publicly and impartially investigate all allegations of extrajudicial, arbitrary or summary executions perpetrated by State agents as well as high incidence of arbitrary arrest and detention; that urgent steps be taken to reduce the number and type of crimes entailing capital punishment; and to repeal all provisions incompatible with the provisions of the Covenant.
• Review of Civil and Political Rights in Libya [Oct. 1998 Report]


...regarding complaints about disappearances and extra-judicial executions, the [Libyan] delegation said that there had been no such cases in the country since the submission of the report. A report of extra-judicial executions presented by Amnesty International in connection to a "rebellion" was untrue. Regarding the practice of the death penalty, the delegation said that capital punishment was still carried out on persons whose lives endangered or corrupted society. It was also applied to "economic crimes".
• Uncontested Case: El-Megreisi v. the Libyan Government

[from University of Minnesota Human Rights Library]

The Committee noted that the alleged victim's brother had provided information which showed that Mr. Mohammed Bashir El-Megreisi was detained incommunicado for more than three years, until April 1992, and again after April 1992. The State party had not disputed these facts. The Committee found that Mr. El-Megreisi, by being subjected to prolonged incommunicado detention in an unknown location, was the victim of torture and cruel and inhuman treatment.
[Source: 1994 Annual Report.]
Read also: Complete UN Communication on el-Megreisi case.

U. N. Committee against Torture
 

• U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture [ January, 1999.]


By letter dated 3 September 1998, the Special Rapporteur advised the Government that he had received information on methods of torture and other forms of ill-treatment reportedly applied against detainees during interrogation to extract confessions, which in turn are used to incriminate them. Methods are said to include: beating, including falaqa, i.e, beatings on the soles of the feet, hanging by the wrists from a ceiling or high window, or being suspended from a pole inserted between the knees and elbows, electric shocks, burning with cigarettes and being exposed to aggressive dogs, resulting in bite wounds. Psychological ill-treatment reportedly includes death threats and threats of abuse against the prisoner and his/her family, particularly female relatives. In particular, political discourses are reported to be broadcast repeatedly, loudly and late into the night in Abu Salim prison, where long-term political prisoners and detainees are held. This practice is believed to be used to deprive them of sleep. Another method which seems to be constantly used is "car torture", in which the detainee is allegedly left in an extremely small room that resembles a box and is forced to sit on an uncomfortable chair for weeks, with hands tied behind the back. These methods are said to be used in detention centres and in prisons in particular, Abu Salim prison is said to have underground rooms beneath the prison administration building which are used for interrogation and torture.
Read the Full Report.


• Concluding Reamrks and Recommendations, [May, 1999]


D. Subjects of concern 7. neither the report nor the information given orally by the representatives of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya provided the Committee with comments and answers that addressed substantially the subjects of concern indicated and the recommendations made by the Committee when dealing with the second periodic report of the State party in 1994. Consequently, the Committee reiterates inter-alia the following subjects of concern: a. prolonged incommunicado detention in spite of the legal provisions regulating it still seems to create conditions which may lead to violation of the Convention; b. the fact that allegations of torture in the State party continue to be received by the Committee. 8. ...the State party had, in one incident, extradited persons to a country, where there are substantial grounds for believing that they are in danger of being subjected to torture. The Committee did not agree with the State party that it was legally obliged to do so. 9. ...the wording of article 206 of the Penal Code could be an obstacle to the creation of independent human rights non-governmental organizations. E. Recommendations 10. The Committee encourages the Libyan Government to consider making the declarations provided for under articles 21 and 22 of the Convention. 11. ...the law and the practices of the State party be brought in line with article 3 of the Convention. 12. ...Libyan authorities guarantee the free access of a person deprived of his liberty to a lawyer and to a doctor of his choice and to his relatives at all stages of detention. 13. ... send a clear message to all its law-enforcement personnel that torture is not permitted under any circumstances. In addition, those who committed the offence of torture should be subjected to a prompt and impartial investigation and rigorously prosecuted in accordance with the law. 14. Although corporal punishment has not been practiced in recent years, it should be abolished by law.


• Committee against Torture,  1995 Report

 
• Committee against Torture,  1993 Report

• Uncontested Case: al-Azhari and Others v. Libyan Government


Consequent upon its decision declaring the detention of Al-Ajili Muhammad Abdul Rahman al-Azhari, Ali Muhammad al-Akrami, Ali Muhammad al-Qajiji, Salih Omar al-Qasbi, Muhammad al-Sadiq al Tarhouni, Ahmad Abd al-Qadir al-Thulthi, Yusuf Hassan al-Huwayl, Najm al-Din Muhammad al-Naquzi and Sheikh Yusuf Muhammad Hussein to be arbitrary, the Working Group requests the Government of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya to take the necessary steps to remedy the situation in order to bring it into conformity with the norms and principles incorporated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
[Source:  Report of Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, 1993. ]
See Also: 1995 Report

Concluding Observations (1994)