Dokument #1277034
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Autor)
Information on the Libyan Islamic Group is
scarce among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.
The most recent reference to the group is
provided in a 1 July 1998 Amnesty International Urgent
Action, which reports the arrest of people, mostly
professionals and many of them suspected of "supporting or
sympathizing with the Libyan Islamic Group, an undergound
non-violent Islamist movement similar to the Muslim Brothers in
other Middle Eastern countries."
An article published in the London-based
newspaper Al-Wasat describing Islamic groups in Libya,
however, refers to clashes between the Libyan Islamic Group and the
Libyan security forces (11 Aug. 1996). The report indicates that
the group believes in a union of religion and the state, and states
that its leaders claim the group carries or has carried out
unspecified activities in various areas of the country, including
eastern Libya, Benghazi, Tripoli, Zawiyah, Sirte, Tobruk and Jabal
Akhdar (ibid.). The report names Abu Abdullah al-Sadiq as the
group's emir, who reportedly criticized its "Algerian counterpart,"
the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), for "shed[ding] blood without there
being a convincing justification under Shari'ah"; the report
indicates that this split means that the Libyan Islamic Group has
stopped supporting its "Algerian brothers" and suggested that the
Algerian jihad "should be disciplined, with Shari'ah
controls and in accordance with a sound Shari'ah line" (ibid.). The
August 1996 report states that "since the clashes of June 1995" in
which Shaykh Abu Yahya, one of the group's main commanders was
killed, "not a week has passed without an announcement in the
[Libyan] Islamic Group's internal bulletins and related magazines
about military operations, ambushes or assassination attempts on
regime loyalists and security officers" (ibid.). The report clearly
differentiates between the Militant Islamic Group (MIG) and the
Libyan Islamic Group.
Another report, originally published by
Al-Sharq Al-Awsat in 1997 and disseminated by the BBC
Summary of World Broadcasts, states that the Libyan security forces
had "managed to infiltrate the armed fundamentalist opposition and
'create disagreements and problems between its factions'," naming
the Libyan Islamic Group as one such faction that had had
disagreements with the Islamic Martyrs Movement (26 Aug. 1997).
An Internet Website listing Libyan
opposition groups includes a brief entry for the Islamic Group
"Libya" or Aj-jamaa Al-islamiya "Libya" (Ibrahim 1999). The entry
states that the group was established in 1979 and publishes a
magazine called Al-Moslim; in the same entry it also lists
a newspaper labelled as independent called Al-Raed
(ibid.).
The Paris-based magazine Arabies
published a report on Libyan opposition groups in October 1995
which attributed intermittent publication of the magazine Al
Mouslim to the leader of the Libyan Muslim Brothers in London.
The report names the "Islamic Group (al Jamaa al Islamiyya)" as an
organization created in 1980 outside Libya, and counting Sheikh
Mohamed Ben Ghali as one of its leaders. In 1981 the Islamic Group
united with the Libyan Islamic Movement, but later separated
because of differences over its choice of actions (divergences
sur les moyens d'action) (ibid.). Al Jamaa, as the report
calls the group, is a member party of the international Islamic
movement, according to Ben Ghali, albeit with reservations over the
"Iranian project" due to the method of governance envisioned by the
latter's mullahs and to the links between the Iranian and Libyan
governments (ibid.).
This Response was prepared after
researching publicly accessible information currently available to
the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is
not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any
particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please see below the
list of sources consulted in researching this information
request.
References
Al-Sharq Al-Awsat [London]. 26
August 1997. "Libyan Patriots' Movement Says Government Has
Infiltrated Opposition." (BBC Summary/NEXIS)
Al-Wasat [London]. 11 August
1996. "Newspaper Examines Role of Islamic Groups, Tribal Opposition
in Libya." (BBC Summary/Global NewsBank)
Amnesty International. 1 July 1998.
Urgent Action: Possible Prisoners of Conscience/ Fear of
Torture/Legal Concern. (AI Index: MDE 19/07/98)
Arabies [Paris]. October 1995.
No. 106. Ali El-Roz and Antoine Jalkh. "Libye: Les Anti-Kadhafi de
A à Z."
Ibrahim, Ighneiwa. 1999. Libya:
Opposition Groups, Parties and Organizations. [Internet] http://home.earthlink.net/~dribrahim/oppose.htm
[Accessed 2 Feb. 1999]
Additional Sources Consulted
Africa Confidential [London].
1996-1998.
Extremist Groups.
Islam and Islamic Groups.
Electronic sources: Internet, IRB
Databases, Global NewsBank, NEXIS, REFWORLD, WNC.
Note:
This list is not exhaustive. Subject-
and country-specific books available in the Resource Centre are not
included.