Re: Repeat violence at Abuslim Prison on October 4 in Tripoli, Libya

Dear Ms Arbour:

The American Libyan Freedom Alliance (ALFA), Inc. is an American NGO registered in the State of Virginia. ALFA was founded on September 29, 2003 for the following purposes: 1. Promotion of justice and Human Rights in Libya, 2. Disseminate information and spread awareness of Libyan issues and concerns, 3. Defend Libyan legal and human Rights, and to hold all violators accountable. Since ALFA's inception, we have reported many human Rights abuses by the Gadhafi regime in Libya, most prominent amongst those crimes was the massacre at Abuslim prison on the outskirts of Tripoli on June 28, 1996. This heinous crime resulted in the cold-blooded murder of 1200 political prisoners. Gadhafi has consistently denied the occurrence of such a massacre until April 2004, when he reluctantly admitted it to having infomitted such a crime and pledged an investigation. However, no such investigation has ever taken place, and it is unlikely that it will ever happen without international intervention.

Now we have reasons to fear that the Abuslim massacre could be repeated if the international infomunity does not intervene immediately. On Wednesday, October 4, we were contacted by relatives of current political prisoners at Abuslim prison to inform us that some of the inmates have been shot, and that there has been at least one fatality, following scuffles between prisoners and security guards. This latest bout of prisoner abuse occurred after some prisoners protested confirmation of previous sentences passed by the now-defunct Peoples' Court. The incident was reported by several human rights groups; amongst them was Amnesty International which issued a press release on October 6 (copy attached). Aljazeera Satellite television carried out a live report of the bloody confrontation. Families of the political prisoners are appealing to all human rights groups to infoe to their rescue, and to prevent a repeat of the 1996 Abuslim tragedy. We ask for your immediate action, and to share this information with other government and non government agencies.
 

Mohamed M. Bugaighis, Ph.D.
Chairman, American Libyan Freedom Alliance, Inc.

ALFA, P.O. Box 22262, Lehigh Valley, PA 18002, USA; website: http://www.alfa-online.net
Telephone: 610 703 1382, e-mail: info@alfa-online.net