AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL HOME LIBRARY [Jump_to_main WORLD_WIDE_SITES content]
[Main navigation] Search [q ] [GO] [language links] [Library] E-mail_this_page
Printer_friendly [Section navigation] LIBRARY MIDDLE_EAST_AND_NORTH_AFRICA
NORTH_AFRICA Document_library LIBYA Recent_documents AI Index: MDE 19/004/2006
24 August 2006 Documents_by_region **** Urgent Actions **** Documents_by_theme
Amnesty International's global Urgent Action network Annual_reports provides an
effective and rapid means of preventing The_Wire some of the most life-
threatening human rights Receive_updates_by_e-mail violations against
individuals. Order_AI_publications Join_the_Urgent_Action_network Search by AI
INDEX [ai_index_input ] [GO] View this page in URGENT ACTION [Español] *****
Libya: Fear of forcible return/ Health concern/ [Français] Fear of Torture
***** PUBLIC AI Index: MDE 19/004/2006 24 August 2006 UA 225/06 Fear of
forcible return/ Health concern/ Fear of Torture LIBYA 300 Eritrean nationals
detained in Libya, including 80 women, and five children under the age of seven
Amnesty International has recently learnt that in early August, the Libyan
authorities rounded up and detained 300 Eritrean refugees, including 80 women
and five children between the ages of two and six. It is feared that the
refugees may be forcibly returned to Eritrea, where they are at risk of torture
or other ill-treatment. The 300 detainees are being held in Almerge prison,
100km from Bengazi in northern Libya. Two of the female detainees are pregnant,
while six others have serious medical problems. It is not clear if they are
receiving the medical care they need. Groups of refugees who were forcibly
returned to Eritrea from Libya in 2004 and from Malta in 2002 were held
incommunicado upon their arrival. Many were tortured and some died while in
custody. Amnesty International documented their treatment in its report
Eritrea: ‘You have no right to ask’ – Government resists
scrutiny on human rights (AFR 64/003/2004, May 2004). Libya has signed the
Organization of African Unity (OAU – now the African Union) Convention on
the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, which obliges them not to
return anyone to a country where they would be at risk of serious human rights
violations, including torture. The United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees has recommended that even rejected asylum-seekers should not be
forcibly returned to Eritrea. BACKGROUND INFORMATION Some 232 Eritreans,
including asylum seekers, were forcibly deported to Eritrea from Malta in 2002,
and were detained and tortured. A judicial inquiry into these deportations is
now underway in Malta. Except for some women and children and about 30 men who
later fled to Sudan for a second time, the Malta deportees are believed to be
still detained incommunicado, without charge or trial, in various secret
prisons in Eritrea. On 21 July 2004, Libyan authorities deported 110 Eritrean
nationals back to Eritrea, who were detained and placed in incommunicado
detention in a secret prison. On 27 August 2004, the Libyan authorities
attempted to deport a further 76 Eritrean asylum seekers, including six
children. The plane was however hijacked by some of the passengers and landed
in Sudan. All passengers, except for the hijackers, were given refugee status
in Sudan. AI Index: MDE 19/004/2006 24 August 2006 E-mail_this_page
Printer_friendly Further information AI_Report_2005_entry Back_to_Top ABOUT_AI
NEWS LIBRARY ACT_NOW CAMPAIGNS RESOURCES_&_LINKS CONTACT_US SITEMAP (c)
Copyright Amnesty International