- Libya should release journalist and Net writer 'Abd al-Raziq al-Mansuri and drop the charges against him, or grant him a prompt and fair trial, Human Rights Watch said today.
The country’s internal security force has detained al-Mansuri since last January “in an apparent effort to silence a writer with critical views,” says the Reuters Foundation AlertNet.
Al-Mansuri, 52, was arrested on January 12 in his hometown of Tobruk. He'd written some 50 articles and commentaries critical of Libyan society and government for a UK-based website which reported last week that he'd fallen from his prison bed and broken his hip.
The government claims it arrested al-Mansuri for illegal possession of a handgun, says Reuters, but, “he was apparently detained before the handgun was found, by agents of the Internal Security Agency, which normally deals with issues of national security. The authorities are holding him in Abu Selim prison, run by the agency. For at least the first four months of his detention, the authorities held him in incommunicado detention, without access to a lawyer or his family.”
Al-Mansuri's last article before his arrest, "Will the Key-Holder Come Soon to That Hall in Sirte?," posted on January 10, "was a subtle critique of a debate between two government officials, a reformer and a hardliner, expressing hope, but doubt that Libya's leader, Col. Muammar Qaddafi, would support the former," says Reuters.
"We call on the prison authorities to ensure that Al Mansouri's injuries are properly treated as soon as possible and we also demand that his lawyer and family be allowed to visit him in order to verify his state of health," says Reporters Without Borders, adding:
“As a result of being left untreated for so long after the fall and the poor medical care available in the prison, Al Mansouri's state of health has deteriorated considerably in the past week. He now has complications that could be life-threatening if not quickly treated.”
See:- AlertNet - CWeb Writer's Arrest Stifles Debate, August 16, 2005 Reporters Without Borders - Imprisoned cyber-dissident in worrying condition after injury in fall from bunkbed, August 17, 2005
