Abu Salim Prison Information
Abu Salim prison is a top security prison in Tripoli, Libya which was often described as notorious for mistreatment and human rights abuses by human rights activists and other observers before the overthrow of the government of 40 years standing in 2011.[1][2][3]
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Allegations of human rights abuses
Amnesty International has called for an independent inquiry into deaths that occurred there in 1996,[4] an incident which some have referred to as the Abu Salim prison massacre.[5] Human Rights Watch believes that 1,270 prisoners were killed. However, its estimate is mostly based on the account of a single former inmate.[6] HRW also calls the prison a "site of egregious human rights violations."[6] Some say that Western governments largely ignored this and no international inquiry was launched, due to "oil interests".[7] The Libyan government said in 2009, then controlled by the same people as at the time of the event, that the killings took place amid confrontation between the government and rebels from the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, and that some 200 guards were killed too.[8] In January 2011, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya confirmed that it was carrying out an investigation into the incident along with international investigators.[9] Statements made in an interview with the BBC by the captured Mansour Dhao, a prominent figure in the Gaddafi regime, provides further evidence for the massacre. [10]
On 25 September 2011, soon after the previous government had been overthrown, the governing National Transitional Council (NTC) said that a mass grave had been discovered outside the prison.[11] Khalid al-Sherif, a military spokesman for the NTC, said that the grave was located based on information from captured former regime officials. He stated: "We have discovered the truth about what the Libyan people have been waiting for many years, and it is the bodies and remains of the Abu Salim massacre."[12] Ibrahim Abu Shim, a member of the committee looking for mass graves, said that investigators believed 1,270 people were buried in the grave but the NTC needed help from the international community to find and identify the remains as they lacked the sophisticated equipment needed for DNA testing.[13] However, investigators from CNN and other organizations found only what appeared to be animal bones at the site.[14]
Inmates of Abu Salim prison
- Ahmed al-Senussi, a current member of the NTC, was held here by Gaddafi until his release in 2001.[15]
- Abu Sufian bin Qumu, a former LIFG member, was transferred from Guantanamo to Libya in 2007,[16] and was released from Abu Salim prison in 2010 following an amnesty for political prisoners.[17]
YouTube videos
On 24 January 2010, the Libyan authorities blocked access to YouTube after it featured videos of demonstrations in the Libyan city of Benghazi by families of detainees who were killed in Abu Salim prison in 1996, and videos of family members of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi at parties. The blocking was criticized by Human Rights Watch.[18]
2011 Libyan civil war
During the 2011 Libyan civil war the prison was captured by the rebels on 24 August and all prisoners were set free.[19] Among those confirmed to have been freed was volunteer rebel fighter Matthew VanDyke from Baltimore, Maryland, USA, a member of a rebel unit captured by the Libyan Army in Brega in March.[20][21] An international campaign to free VanDyke had described him as a "writer and journalist," but it was later revealed that he was a rebel fighter and prisoner of war.[21]
See also
| Libya portal | |
| Criminal justice portal |
- Politics of Libya
- Human rights in Libya
- List of massacres in Libya
References
- ^ "Libya's notorious Abu Salim prison to be emptied". daylife.com. http://www.daylife.com/article/0gNNdjv7Qq32E?q=Libya.
- ^ "Libya's notorious Abu Salim prison". geneva lunch. http://genevalunch.com/blog/2010/03/24/libyas-notorious-abu-salim-prison-to-be-emptied/.
- ^ Robertson, Nic; Cruickshank, Paul (23 November 2009). "Jihadist death threatened Libyan peace deal". CNN. http://www.edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/11/23/libya.death/index.html. Retrieved 28 November 2011.
- ^ "Investigation needed into prison deaths". Amnesty International. http://www.amnesty.org.au/news/comments/346.
- ^ "Libyan legal court celebrates Abu Salim prison massacre". Arabic News. 24 June 2005. http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/050624/2005062418.html.
- ^ a b "Libya: Free All Unjustly Detained Prisoners". Human Rights Watch. http://www.hrw.org/es/news/2009/10/16/libya-free-all-unjustly-detained-prisoners.
- ^ "Libya revolution: Future scenarios and the West's role". BBC News. 25 February 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12577484. Retrieved 26 February 2011.
- ^ Shuaib (6 September 2009). "Libya appoints judge to probe 1996 prison massacre". Reuters UK. Reuters. http://uk.reuters.com/article/2009/09/06/uk-libya-massacre-idUKTRE5850PJ20090906. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
- ^ "Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Libyan Arab Jamahiriya". Universal Periodic Review. United Nations Human Rights Council, United Nations General Assembly. 4 January 2011. http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/16session/A-HRC-16-15.pdf. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
- ^ "Gaddafi: 'He died an angry and disappointed man'". BBC. 30 October 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15516678. Retrieved 31 October 2011.
- ^ "More than 1,200 bodies found in Tripoli mass grave". BBC News. 25 September 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15055109. Retrieved 35 September 2011.
- ^ "Mass grave found in Libya with remains of 1,200". The Economic Times. 25 September 2011. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/mass-grave-found-in-libya-with-remains-of-1200/articleshow/10120042.cms. Retrieved 25 September 2011.
- ^ "More than 1,200 bodies found in Tripoli mass grave". BBC. 25 September 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15055109. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
- ^ "Libya hedges mass grave claim". CNN. 26 September 2011. http://edition.cnn.com/2011/09/25/world/africa/libya-mass-grave/.
- ^ Stock, Johnathan (13 March 2011). "Gaddafi-Opfer Al-Senussi: Gott entscheidet, was mit dir passiert" (in German). Der Spiegel. SPIEGEL-Verlag. Archived from the original on 25 August 2011. http://www.webcitation.org/61DGwSOUj. Retrieved 25 August 2011.
- ^ "Abu Sufian Ibrahim Ahmed Hamuda Bin Qumu - The Guantánamo Docket". The New York Times. http://projects.nytimes.com/guantanamo/detainees/557-abu-sufian-ibrahim-ahmed-hamuda-bin-qumu/documents/3/pages/645.
- ^ "Libya releases 37 militant Islamists". EarthTimes.org. http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/342001,releases-37-militant-islamists.html. Retrieved 30 June 2011.
- ^ "Watchdog urges Libya to stop blocking websites". Google News. Agence France-Presse. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gMqNCaIpcd74x_33F16sT_6IDriw. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
- ^ FreePressTV. "RAW,Libya, Rebels and citizens setting prisoners free from Abu Salim Priso in Tripoli 24.08.2011". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWHy2jmVocQ.
- ^ Deshmukh, Jay (3 October 2011). "American fighting Kadhafi 'lunatics' dreams of free Libya". Google News. Agence France-Presse. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ggq9gizU50QT6TMAe6WPD-7Xytrw?docId=CNG.63f3ecd569de01fd9d60c41e9a017daa.931.
- ^ a b Phil Gast (25 August 2011). "American held in solitary escapes Tripoli prison". CNN. http://edition.cnn.com/2011/US/08/25/libya.freed.american/.
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Categories:
- Prisons in Libya
- Human rights in Libya
- Buildings and structures of the 2011 Libyan civil war
- Buildings and structures in Tripoli
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