24 March 2008
Libya: Death Under Torture
Ismael al_Khazimi
(Case JAL, SUMX; TOR)
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment informed the UN Human
Rights Council, during its present session (3-28 March) of the above case
after submitting it to the Government of Libya for comments: No reply
received. Here are the details of the case as reported by the Special
rapporteur:
“Ismail al-Khazmi, born in 1976, was an engineer working in the
oil fields of AGB GAS in Melita (Sebrata). On 17 June 2006 at 11 a.m. agents
of the internal security services (Al-Amn Addakhili) arrested Mr. Al-Khazmi at
his place of work. According to the statements of his co-workers, the
detaining officers neither showed an arrest warrant nor informed him of the
reasons for his arrest. It is not known where he was taken by the security
officers. His parents repeatedly sought information on his fate, but the
authorities refused to acknowledge that he had been detained and thus to
provide any information. It would appear, however, that Mr. Ismail Al-Khazmi
was held at Asseka Prison in Tripoli, where he was repeatedly severely
ill-treated. On 29 June 2006, he was again beaten and then suspended from the
ceiling in the presence and under the direction of an Al-Amn Addakhili
officer. Three further Al-Amn Addakhili officers were present. In the
afternoon of 29 June 2006, Mr. Al-Khazmi was taken away from the prison in a
Peugeot car, unconscious but still alive. He has not been seen again
thereafter.
On 1 May 2007, Mr. Ibrahim Aboubekr Al-Khazmi, the father of
Mr. Ismail Al Khazmi, was summoned to the office of the commander of Asseka
Prison. The prison commander told him that his son was dead and asked him to
sign a document in order to obtain the remains. The father asked for
explanations concerning the death of his son and, not having received a
satisfactory reply, insisted that an autopsy be carried out by a physician of
his choice. The prison commander refused this request. Mr. Ibrahim Aboubekr
Al-Khazmi therefore retained a lawyer, who requested formally that an autopsy
be carried out and filed a complaint against those responsible for Ismail Al-
Khazmi’s death. The prosecutor general summoned the officers on duty at Asseka
Prison at the time of Ismail Al Khazmi’s detention to obtain their statements.
The Secretary of the Popular Committee on General Security, who is the
secretary in charge of the Ministry of Interior, opposed their appearance and
refused to authorise an inquiry. As of today, notwithstanding the threats and
other forms of pressure received, Mr. Ibrahim Aboubekr Al-Khazmi refuses to
pick up his son’s body at the morgue of the Tripoli hospital as long as the
circumstances of his son’s death are not clarified”.
The Libyan League for Human Rights calls on the Government of
Libya to open an independent investigation of the death under torture of Mr.
Al Khazimi and to bring the perpetrators of this odious and barbaric crime to
justice. We also call on the Government to take immediate action to put an end
to the continuing practice of TORTURE which is still widely practiced by
“revolutionary zealots” in official prisons and in secret places of detention.
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