Saturday, January 16, 2010

Torture of Asylum Seekers in Libya

Map source

On January 15, 2010 Human Rights Watch issued this Press Release shedding more lights on the deteriorating human rights in Libya especially in regard to asylum seekers:


"On January 3, 2010, Eritrean migrants in the Surnam detention center managed to communicate that Eritrean officials came to the center and told them to fill out forms. Some of the migrants refused to have their photographs taken because they felt this was to facilitate deportation. The migrants said that Libyan guards beat those who refused.

On January 11, detained migrants in Misrata and Garabule managed to communicate that Libyan security forces beat them when they refused to fill out the forms and threatened to withhold food. They claimed that Eritrean officials visiting them had told them that once they completed the forms, they would be returned to Eritrea."