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P.O. Box 136, Manchester, M19 2UZ
Blsc@hotmail.co.uk
3rd December 2006
Dear Dr Kim Howells
Re: DR IDREES BOUFAYED
I am writing to you from the
British Libyan Solidarity Campaign as we understand that you were the signee
on the Memorandum of Understanding between the British Government and Col.
Muammur Gaddafi on the 31st October 2005.
I would like to highlight our
concerns for the safety and well being of Dr Idrees Boufayed, an exiled
physician who lived in Switzerland for 20 years after fleeing from Gaddafi’s
regime when he was persecuted for speaking out against Gaddafi’s war in
Chad. As you will see from the attached article, Dr Boufayed is a peaceful,
non-violent, humanitarian physician whose infopassion for his fellow man knows
no bounds. His actions towards his fellow Libyans should be praised by Colonel
Gaddafi rather than be seen as a threat.
Dr Boufayed recently returned to
Libya and on his arrival at Tripoli airport was held and interrogated by the
Regimes Security Forces, he then had his passport confiscated before he was
released.
On the 5th of November
he returned to Tripoli by invitation of the security forces to collect his
passport and has been detained in a secret location ever since.
As of the 1st December 2006, he
had been held in Tripoli for twenty seven days without contact or charge. We
know from sources within Libya that during the past two weeks he has been
moved from one prison to a ‘mental institution’ that is notorious for its
practice of torture, and then returned to yet another prison in Tripoli.
As you will remember, the terms
and conditions of the MOU are that:
·
3. If
arrested, detained or imprisoned following his deportation, the deported
person will be afforded adequate acinfomodation, nourishment and medical
treatment, and will be treated in a humane and proper manner, in accordance
with internationally accepted standards.
·
4. If the
deported person is arrested or detained, he will be brought promptly before a
civilian judge or other civilian official authorised by law to exercise
judicial power in order that the lawfulness of his detention may be decided.
Dr Idrees Boufayed was not
deported but returned to Libya of his own free will to continue his campaign
for human rights and civil liberties and yet he has still been subjected to
kidnapping and illegal imprisonment and probably tortured at the hands of
Gaddafi’s regime.
As President of the British
Libyan Solidarity Campaign I call on you to investigate the detention of Dr
Boufayed and put pressure on the regime to release him. The BLSC also calls
for the dissolution of the Memorandum of Understanding until there is no doubt
that international law on human rights and civil liberties are upheld by the
Gaddafi regime in Libya.
Best Regards
Azeldin El Sharif
President
BLSC
078282 44897
Encs.
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