Libya: Mr. Al Shibani kidnapped, detained in secret, and said to be tortured

23 Aug 2007

Alkarama for Human Rights, 18 August 2007

On 17 August 2007, Alkarama for Human Rights addressed a letter to the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Louise Arbour, asking her to launch an urgent appeal with the Libyan authorities in the case of Mr. Imad Al Shibani.

Imad Al Shibani was born in 1978 in Benghazi; he is a bachelor living at Ard Azwaw in Benghazi.  He was arrested on the road by interior security agents in civilian dress in the morning of 10 July 2007 and driven to interior security headquarters in Benghazi near the “An Nahr As Sina’i” eye clinic.

He was last seen in this place by detainees freed on 15 July.  Their testimonies bear witness to serious tortures inflicted on Mr. Al Shibani from the first days of his detention.

Imad Al Shibani had already been kidnapped by the security services on 5 December 2005, and was tortured and secretly detained until he was freed on 14 October 2006. He was the subject of a previous urgent appeal on 25 January 2006 as well as a letter to the Working Group on Forced Disappearance.

Throughout this first detention, he has never been brought before a magistrate or a court.

Mr. Al Shibani’s mother has tried this week to get information about her son’s fate from the Benghazi security services, who do not admit to detaining him.  She is particularly anguished about his fate.

Alkarama thus asks for the High Commissioner’s urgent intervention in order that Mr. Imad Al Shibani be liberated or brought before a court if any crimes are imputed to him.

Libya