AbuSalim Massacre
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Transcript of AbuSalim Massacre
Geneva 9th December 2008 AbuSalim Massacre: The Rights of the Victims
and Procrastinations of the Libyan Regime
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AbuSalim Massacre: Background & latest developments
Content:
Background
The prison
The conditions leading up to June 28th 1996
The Massacre (28-29 June 1996)
State of denial
Official recognition
Latest developments
Rebutting the “excessive use of force” narrative
What is next
Geneva 9th December 2008 AbuSalim Massacre: The Rights of the Victims
and Procrastinations of the Libyan Regime
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AbuSalim Massacre: Background & latest developments
Content:
Background
The prison
The conditions leading up to June 28th 1996
The Massacre (28-29 June 1996)
State of denial
Official recognition
Latest developments
Rebutting the “excessive use of force” narrative
What is next
Geneva 9th December 2008 AbuSalim Massacre: The Rights of the Victims
and Procrastinations of the Libyan Regime
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AbuSalim Massacre: Background & latest developments
The Prison
Geneva 9th December 2008 AbuSalim Massacre: The Rights of the Victims
and Procrastinations of the Libyan Regime
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AbuSalim Massacre: Background & latest developments
The Prison
Geneva 9th December 2008 AbuSalim Massacre: The Rights of the Victims
and Procrastinations of the Libyan Regime
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AbuSalim Massacre: Background & latest developments
The Prison
Geneva 9th December 2008 AbuSalim Massacre: The Rights of the Victims
and Procrastinations of the Libyan Regime
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AbuSalim Massacre: Background & latest developments
The Prison
Geneva 9th December 2008 AbuSalim Massacre: The Rights of the Victims
and Procrastinations of the Libyan Regime
8
AbuSalim Massacre: Background & latest developments
Content:
Background
The prison
The conditions leading up to June 28th 1996
The Massacre (28-29 June 1996)
State of denial
Official recognition
Latest developments
Rebutting the “excessive use of force” narrative
What is next
Geneva 9th December 2008 AbuSalim Massacre: The Rights of the Victims
and Procrastinations of the Libyan Regime
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On 2nd March 1988 there were around 530 political detainees
On 3rd March 1988 404 detainees were released
On 8th March 1988 a further 22 detainees were released
Around 100 detainees remained in the “Central Prison”, they were not included in the amnesty of 1988
From December 1988 till March 1989 hundreds of citizens were arrested, in waves of mass arrests.
They were classified into 3 groups: A, B & C
Further wave of arrests occurred in October 1993 (failed military coup) & in 1994 (Ajdabia)
End of March 1995, 306 detainees (group C) were released
From May 1995 to August 1998 waves of mass arrests targeted hundreds of citizens.
AbuSalim Massacre: Background & latest developments
The conditions leading up to June 28th 1996
Geneva 9th December 2008 AbuSalim Massacre: The Rights of the Victims
and Procrastinations of the Libyan Regime
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Prison population increased steadily & conditions deteriorated gravely.
September 1995
The situation at the “Central Prison” the situation was:
Wards 1 & 2 were for category C detainees
Wards 3 through to 6 were for categories A & B detainees
Wards 7 & 8 (solitary confinement cells) were for detainees of October 1993.
All those “classified” as members of banned groups were transferred to the “Central Prison”
At the “Military Prison” the situation was:
Ward 1 was for the “100” detainees who remained in detention after the 1988 amnesty.
Wards 3 though to 8 were for detainees who were still under interrogation.
Interrogations were held in the compound‟s main administration building.
AbuSalim Massacre: Background & latest developments
The conditions leading up to June 28th 1996
Geneva 9th December 2008 AbuSalim Massacre: The Rights of the Victims
and Procrastinations of the Libyan Regime
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AbuSalim Massacre: Background & latest developments
Content:
Background
The prison
The conditions leading up to June 28th 1996
The Massacre (28-29 June 1996)
State of denial
Official recognition
Latest developments
Rebutting the “excessive use of force” narrative
What is next
Geneva 9th December 2008 AbuSalim Massacre: The Rights of the Victims
and Procrastinations of the Libyan Regime
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AbuSalim Massacre: Background & latest developments
The Massacre (28-29 June 1996)
Geneva 9th December 2008 AbuSalim Massacre: The Rights of the Victims
and Procrastinations of the Libyan Regime
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AbuSalim Massacre: Background & latest developments
The Massacre (28-29 June 1996)
Friday, 28th June 1996:
A group of detainees (Ward 4) attacked the guards (3 guards) who were distributing the evening meal.
Security delegation, lead by Colonel AbduAllah AlSanousi, arrived and later started negotiations with 4 detainees representing the rest of prisoners.
Demands of the detainees were:
Provision of medical treatment to the detainees.
Improve the conditions of the prison (medical care, food, hygiene, guard treatment,…)
Access to the court system (end to their illegal situation of indefinite detention)
To allow their relatives to visit them (end to incommunicado detention)
Negotiations continued late into the night, after assurances from the security delegation, to meet the demands, the detainees returned to their cells around 2am of Saturday 29th June. Situation was resolved peacefully by negotiations.
Geneva 9th December 2008 AbuSalim Massacre: The Rights of the Victims
and Procrastinations of the Libyan Regime
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AbuSalim Massacre: Background & latest developments
The Massacre (28-29 June 1996)
Saturday, 29th June 1996:
Early morning buses came to take around 150 detainees to hospitals for treatment.
Category C detainees (wards 1 & 2) were moved from the Central prison to the Military prison.
A number of prisoners were transferred from the Military prison to the Central prison.
Around 11am sounds of intense gun fire, in the “Central Prison” were heard, it lasted for about 2 hours
Number of victims unknown, nor is their fate
News of the massacre, despite the wall of isolation and secrecy, spread, and Amnesty International issued an Urgent Action on 19th July 1996 (Libya: Political prisoners in Abu Salim Prison, Tripoli -Fear for safety / Deliberate killings / Medical neglect, AI Index: MDE 19/05/96).
Geneva 9th December 2008 AbuSalim Massacre: The Rights of the Victims
and Procrastinations of the Libyan Regime
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AbuSalim Massacre: Background & latest developments
Content:
Background
The prison
The conditions leading up to June 28th 1996
The Massacre (28-29 June 1996)
State of denial
Official recognition
Latest developments
Rebutting the “excessive use of force” narrative
What is next
Geneva 9th December 2008 AbuSalim Massacre: The Rights of the Victims
and Procrastinations of the Libyan Regime
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AbuSalim Massacre: Background & latest developments
State of denial
The Libyan authorities, not only denied the massacre, it actually went on denying that it had any political prisoners or prisoners of conscience.
September 2000, the prison administration was replaced, and prison conditions started to improve. A new commander was brought in, who is currently in detention himself, accused of allowing the prison regulations to go too lax.
Possibly some internal review concluded the necessity to change the way these „security cases‟ were handled.
October 2000, detainees were referred to the office of the “People‟s Prosecutor” to prepare trials in front of the now dissolved “People‟s Court”, an extra-judicial court.
Geneva 9th December 2008 AbuSalim Massacre: The Rights of the Victims
and Procrastinations of the Libyan Regime
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AbuSalim Massacre: Background & latest developments
Content: Background
The prison
The conditions leading up to June 28th 1996
The Massacre (28-29 June 1996)
State of denial
Official recognition
Latest developments
Rebutting the “excessive use of force” narrative
What is next
Geneva 9th December 2008 AbuSalim Massacre: The Rights of the Victims
and Procrastinations of the Libyan Regime
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AbuSalim Massacre: Background & latest developments
Official recognition
1998 Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi appears on the political scene, establishes the Human Rights Society of the Gaddafi International Foundation for Charitable Associations in December, the foundation is now called (Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation (GICDF) )
2003 Libya was elected as Chair of the 59th session of the UN Commission on Human Rights
February 2004 AI delegation arrives in Libya
In February 2004, Colonel al-Gaddafi spoke to Amnesty International delegates about the events in Abu Salim Prison in 1996. This was the first time that the organization had heard official recognition that any such events took place. Colonel al-Gaddafi described the events as a tragedy. He said that one of the prison guards was handing out food to prisoners in their cells. When the guard reached the first cell, the prisoners attacked and killed him and stole his keys. Using his keys, they then opened all the other cells in the same block and the prisoners began to attack the guards, taking their weapons and killing some of them. Police from outside the prison intervened and there was an exchange of fire resulting in casualties, including deaths, on both sides. Those who were still alive were placed back in their cells. Colonel al-Gaddafi went on to say that a number of prisoners also managed to escape during these events and some even reached Afghanistan.
In a speech, broadcasted on Libyan official TV, Colonel al-Gaddafi, addressing a meeting of the Supreme Council of Judicial Bodies, affirmed the right of families to know what happened to their relatives during incidents in Abu Salim Prison in 1996.
Geneva 9th December 2008 AbuSalim Massacre: The Rights of the Victims
and Procrastinations of the Libyan Regime
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AbuSalim Massacre: Background & latest developments
Content: Background
The prison
The conditions leading up to June 28th 1996
The Massacre (28-29 June 1996)
State of denial
Official recognition
Latest developments
Rebutting the “excessive use of force” narrative
What is next
Geneva 9th December 2008 AbuSalim Massacre: The Rights of the Victims
and Procrastinations of the Libyan Regime
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AbuSalim Massacre: Background & latest developmentsLatest developments
22nd March 2007 A law suite filed in Benghazi by a lawyer representing 20 families asking the court to compel the defendants (Libyan authorities) to disclose the fate of their detained relatives. In April, further 37 families joined the law suite.
11th July 2007 the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) has found that Libya committed multiple serious human rights violations including torture, disappearance and arbitrary execution, in the case of “El Alwani v. Libya”.
24th October 2007 the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) has found that Libya responsible for torture and other serious human rights violations, in the case of “El Hassy v. Libya”.
24th April 2008 Libya‟s minister of Justice revealed that his ministry “asked the security agencies to provide lists of the dead in the events in AbuSalim prison, [but] we did not receive an accurate data ”. The justice minister is head of a special commission to settle the cases of deaths in custody by paying the relatives of victims 120 K Libyan dinars for single victims & 150K LD for married ones on the condition to sign a statement affirming that they will not file law suites against Libyan officials in Libya or abroad.
27th May 2008 Relatives of cases of death in custody refuse to accept the compensation offered by representatives of the Libyan authorities in Ajdabia. The authorities tried again on 2nd June 2008, but the families refused the offer.
Geneva 9th December 2008 AbuSalim Massacre: The Rights of the Victims
and Procrastinations of the Libyan Regime
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AbuSalim Massacre: Background & latest developments
Latest developments
18th June 2008 Families of victims of AbuSalim demonstrate peacefully in front of the Benghazi North Court house. Also on 26th June 2008, in front of the Benghazi North court house, on 3rd September 2008 in front of the Internal Security Agency and again on 30th October in front of the offices of the Popular Social Leadership in Benghazi.
24th June 2008 Benghazi North court ruled in the law suite filed by the families of AbuSalim detainees requiring the authorities to disclose the fate of those detainees. Again, in a second ruling on 24th September 2008, the Benghazi North Court requiring the authorities to disclose the fate of 80 detainees of AbuSalim.
24th July 2008 Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi in a televised speech declares that “investigations into the case are almost completed and soon will be brought before a court” explains it as a case of “excessive use of force to subdue very dangerous terrorists“.
6th August 2008 A petition signed by 94 families of victims of AbuSalim is sent to Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi asking him to disclose the circumstances surrounding the incident and to help bring perpetrators to justice.
18th August 2008 The Popular Social Leadership in Tripoli in a public gathering issues checks for compensations to 35 out of 38 families of victims, three families refused to accept the offer. According to news articles, the total number in Tripoli is 144 families. The proceedings, according to the journalist covering the event, were humiliating to the relatives of the victims.
Geneva 9th December 2008 AbuSalim Massacre: The Rights of the Victims
and Procrastinations of the Libyan Regime
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AbuSalim Massacre: Background & latest developments
Latest developments
4th September 2008 Head of the Internal Security Agency meets representatives of the Families of victims of AbuSalim and asks them not to demonstrate in the streets.
30th October 2008 Families of the victims reveal the the establishment of a “Coordination Committee for the Families of the Victims of AbuSalim”, which accused the Judicial authorities, in delaying the resolution of the case, in a press release.
31st October 2008 Minister of Justice blames the Security Agencies for delaying the “resolution of the case”. He announced that about 70% of the families have accepted the compensation and still remain around 1000 people demanding to know the fate of their relatives.
17th November 2008, the families march from the Benghazi North Court house to the offices of the Popular Social Leadership.
19th November 2008 The coordination committee in a press release condemns the “the authorities‟ disrespect of the law and the courts‟ rulings”.
Geneva 9th December 2008 AbuSalim Massacre: The Rights of the Victims
and Procrastinations of the Libyan Regime
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AbuSalim Massacre: Background & latest developments
Content: Background
The prison
The conditions leading up to June 28th 1996
The Massacre (28-29 June 1996)
State of denial
Official recognition
Latest developments
Rebutting the “excessive use of force” narrative
What is next
Geneva 9th December 2008 AbuSalim Massacre: The Rights of the Victims
and Procrastinations of the Libyan Regime
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AbuSalim Massacre: Background & latest developments
Rebutting the “excessive use of force” narrative
As the families of the families progressively assert them selves on the scene, in Libya in the
courts and organizing set-ins and filing complaints at the UNCHR, the Libyan authorities is
pursuing a public campaign to distort the facts of the case. They are trying to explain it as a
case of “excessive use of force” to control prison mutiny.
Based on numerous testimonies by political prisoners, who were in detention in AbuSalim
prison June 1996 and were released, the following are known facts of the case:
A group of detainees, ward 4 , attacked two guards on the evening of Friday 28th
June; one guard was killed & one was taken hostage.
Negotiations ended the protest & order was restored to the Central prison around 2am
Saturday, 29th June. Situation was resolved peacefully.
Around 11am, Saturday 29th June, intense gun fire took place. Shooting took place
about 9~10 hours after mutiny was resolved peacefully through negotiations.
This is not a case of deaths resulting from “excessive use of force” to end a prison
mutiny, rather it is a case of extra-judicial executions on a massive scale. It is an
unprovoked massacre of political detainees.
No official account of the number of the prison population on Friday 28th June 1996.
No official account of the number of those killed on Saturday, 29th June.
Geneva 9th December 2008 AbuSalim Massacre: The Rights of the Victims
and Procrastinations of the Libyan Regime
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AbuSalim Massacre: Background & latest developments
Content: Background
The prison
The conditions leading up to June 28th 1996
The Massacre (28-29 June 1996)
State of denial
Official recognition
Latest developments
Rebutting the “excessive use of force” narrative
What is next
Geneva 9th December 2008 AbuSalim Massacre: The Rights of the Victims
and Procrastinations of the Libyan Regime
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AbuSalim Massacre: Background & latest developments
What is next
The stonewalling policy is futile, people are frustrated, even the Justice minister is exasperated.
The Libyan authorities must, immediately, end this policy of stonewalling
Establish an independent and impartial commission with full powers to:
1. Carry out a thorough, independent and impartial investigation into the killings in AbuSalim
Prison in June 1996,
2. Ensure that the findings are made public and that the families are informed of the fate of
their relatives involved in those events,
3. Ensure that all those responsible are held to account, regardless of the rank or status of
the perpetrators,
4. Establish an independent and impartial body to ensure that all those families receive full
reparations.
Independent & impartial commission, means:
No influence or participation of the security apparatus, specifically the Internal Security
Agency.
The families of the victims of the disappeared must have an input & representation into this
commission, specifically in its formation
Today, some of the families have established a coordinating committee, that committee can
be a starting point.
Geneva 9th December 2008 AbuSalim Massacre: The Rights of the Victims
and Procrastinations of the Libyan Regime
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AbuSalim Massacre: Background & latest developments
End note
Today we heard testimonies of relatives of some of the victims, most are women; a
victim‟s mother, sister & wife. It is the capacity of women, their patience,
steadfastness and perseverance, is behind the progressive emergence of the
families of victims on the public stage.
We have seen this in Argentina, the Association of the Mothers of the Plaza de
Mayo, the organization of Argentine mothers who lost their children during the
Dirty War, their resolve for over 3 decades resulted in the land mark decision of
the Supreme Court in 2005.
To those mothers, sisters, wives, daughters and all the relatives of the victims, we
say: you are on the right path, it might be a long path, and a slow one, but it is
the right one and by staying this course, momentum will build up. You have
made great progress in 2008, your steadfastness and commitment has earned
you the respect of all those who strive for justice. The judicial system in Libya
has not failed you, so far, and their seemingly apparent powerlessness will soon
be history, but it needs your steadfastness, and your cause will prevail.