Libya foundation: progress, failures on rights

First Published: 2010-12-13

Gathafi Foundation regrets 'dangerous regression' in treatment of Libyan civil society associations.

Middle East Online

Seif al-Islam has become a prominent voice for reform in Libya TRIPOLI - A foundation run by Libyan leader Moamer Gathafi's son Seif al-Islam released a mixed annual report on human rights in Libya on Sunday, noting progress on some issues and failures in others. During 2010, there was "significant progress on some issues and new failures on others," the Gathafi Foundation said in its second such report. The report, which is much less critical than in 2009, said it "regretted a dangerous regression" in the treatment of civil society associations. It accused the General People's Congress, or parliament, of "intervening directly in the affairs of unions and professional associations." The charity said it regrets that parliament "has not respected the law" and taken illegal decisions against some unions, including an association of lawyers. There was also no further progress in a probe into the 1996 massacre at Tripoli's Abu Slim prison, where 1,200 prisoners were killed by security forces in unclear circumstances, in a case condemned by international watchdogs such as Human Rights Watch. The report repeated that the state should engage in direct dialogue with the families of victims to "restore trust in state institutions." It also welcomed the release of dozens of Islamists from the prison in recent months, following an initiative by the younger Gathafi. On the issue of press freedom, the foundation called on authorities to "review media policy in Libya, to lift its stranglehold on the media" and adopt a law allowing the creation of a private press. Seif al-Islam has become a prominent voice for reform in Libya, advocating a freer press, a mixed economy and greater cultural rights for the country's Berber minority. He has also been a leading figure in Libya's slow rapprochement with the West.