Dissidents Tell of Torture, Secret Prisons, Executions Under Libyan Regime

AP ^ | Mar. 01, 2004

[Tailgunner Joe]

TRIPOLI, Libya - The scars on his wrists and neck are his own doing, failed attempts to end his suffering. The wounds on his back, the broken limbs, the missing teeth - those, he said, were inflicted by police during long years in Moammar Gadhafi's political prisons. Through tears, Fouad said his speaking out imperiled him but he was beyond caring. He gave his full name, although his wife begged a journalist not to print it for the sake of their children.

"What can they do to me that they haven't already done?" Fouad asked, chain-smoking cigarettes in his well-appointed living room. "I'm not afraid if they chop off my head. I want to talk. I would rather be dead than live like this."

Fouad and other political dissidents interviewed by The Associated Press offered a rare window into the repression of Gadhafi's Libya. They told of political prisoners starved in cramped cells, and of torture carried out in suburban villas.

Fouad told of a Libya that has been largely ignored amid its recent overtures to the West and said they fear that as their country comes in from the cold, Western governments may ignore the regime's abuses.

Libya is changing. Over the past year, Gadhafi has publicly renounced terrorism and allowed U.N., U.S. and British weapons experts to begin to dismantle his weapons of mass destruction programs. He has given a new prime minister responsibility for reforming the failing economic system.

Dissidents said repression has lessened as well since just after Gadhafi's 1969 coup, when they said political courts sentenced hundreds to death, and since 1984, when they said the government hanged people from lampposts, then broadcast the images of their swinging bodies on state television.

But political repression continues. Some dissidents spoke of imprisonment and torture in the past few months. In a report released Wednesday, the U.S. State Department said Libya routinely used torture to suppress opposition in 2003. Amnesty International says Libya holds hundreds of political prisoners.

The issue didn't come up during recent visits by members of U.S. Congress, who had what they described as warm meetings with the Libyan leader. Before leaving, they spoke optimistically about lifting U.S. sanctions and restoring diplomatic relations.

"We want to be friends," said Rep. Solomon Ortiz, a Texas Democrat.

For Fouad, the visit was encouraging.

"It gives us hope. That's why we're holding ourselves up, in the hope we'll get human rights," he said. "I don't think America would like Libya to stay as a military dictatorship."

But other dissidents, more careful about the risk of discovery and speaking only on condition of anonymity, were pessimistic that the country's opening could translate into greater freedoms.

"The delegates of Congress - do you think they care about me? They care about the billions in oil," one man said. "Domestically, there is no chance of change. Do you think Gadhafi will let himself be overthrown? Will he open the political prisons? He won't. I'm sure that nothing will change unless this man is taken out by force."

Risky

Speaking to the news media is risky. Government minders accompany journalists on most forays out of their hotel, and police question journalists seen conducting interviews or taking photographs unaccompanied.

Most of the dissidents spoke in hurried conversations on Tripoli streets, glancing over their shoulders to see who was watching. One man alternated between praises for Gadhafi and talk of arbitrary imprisonment as a minder wandered away and back.

"There are prying eyes everywhere," he said.

Fouad and another dissident approached AP discreetly in a city square when no minders were present, then walked away one by one, telling the journalists to follow after a few minutes. Fouad's friend, walking a block ahead, led the journalists through a maze of streets before ducking into Fouad's doorway.

"In nations like Libya, you become a master at getting through the lines, at not showing yourself. We know talking about politics is very, very dangerous," he said, then broke into a smile. "Big Brother is watching, my dear."

Added Fouad: "We are breaking the law here, but what the hell."

The men said that while most Libyans oppose the regime, there is no organized opposition movement because the intelligence apparatus is omnipresent.

"My neighbor - his villa is empty. It has been six, seven years since he disappeared. They say he's from al-Qaida. He's not from al-Qaida," Fouad said. "There is no movement because everybody's afraid."

Fouad's friend said he has never been arrested because he has been careful. Fouad is angrier, more indignant. He says he has spent a total of 17 years behind bars since Gadhafi's 1969 military coup, most in private houses converted into political prisons. His first imprisonment - more than 5 1/2 years beginning in 1978 - was the worst.

"They hung me from the ceiling and left me there. They pointed guns at my head. They blindfolded me. They broke my arm, they broke my leg, they broke my hand. I lost my teeth," he said, sobbing. "I have no freedom, no rights. I can't take it any more. I'm going crazy."

He said dozens of prisoners would be crammed into a single room, with more than 100 men sharing a single toilet.

"We slept one beside another. If I stood up to go to the toilet, there was no space when I returned," he said. "You have no blanket. You eat from a plastic bag - just some pasta or rice. From 90 kilos (200 pounds) I became 70 (155)."

Fouad, who is in his 50s, isn't poor and says his wealthy family helps him survive. He proudly traces his family tree back to a 19th century king. His ample home is decorated with Oriental carpets, oil paintings and antique furniture.

His English is impeccable. He wore an Izod shirt and Levi's 501 jeans and said his father worked at a U.S. military base in Libya before Gadhafi came to power and had him executed.

Some of the dissidents directed part of their anger at the destruction of a deeply embedded class system that Gadhafi's revolution turned on its head. They called Libya's new rulers uneducated and unsophisticated and said they live in opulence while the people suffer.

"I get the same salary as in 1981: 250 dinars ($190) a month," said one dissident, a computer technician. "We don't survive. We are becoming a bunch of beggars. And these people go to casinos in Monte Carlo; they hire high-class prostitutes."

He said the system rewards informants, so that Libyans now watch their neighbors for signs of political opposition.

"If they denounce me they'll get a reward," he said. "Can you imagine how ugly it is to sell a person? Because if they denounce you, you're dead. You're meat for the dogs."

[OneTimeLurker]

Shocker.

[yonif]

Another reason why we should not be striking deals with Qadaffi the murderer and terrorist. His regime should not be talked to or legitimized by any overtures, such as the lifting of financial sanctions, or diplomatic silence.