Amnesty details ‘enforced disappearances’ in Libya

(CNN) — In an effort to stamp out the opposition in Libya, a “campaign of enforced disappearances” has been carried out by forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, Amnesty International said on Tuesday in a briefing paper.

The paper explores more than 30 cases of people who’ve disappeared since protests started in the war-torn North African nation. Among them are political activists and “those suspected of being rebel fighters or supporters of fighters.”

“It appears that there is a systematic policy to detain anyone suspected of opposition to Colonel al-Gaddafi’s rule, hold them incommunicado, and transfer them to his strongholds in western Libya,” Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International’s director for the Middle East and North Africa said. “Given the circumstances of their enforced disappearance there is every reason to believe that these individuals are at serious risk of torture and ill-treatment.”

Smart called on Gadhafi to “halt this outrageous campaign and order his forces to abide by international law.”

Amnesty says the documented cases “are believed to represent only a small proportion of the total number of people who have been detained or have disappeared” recently in Gadhafi’s custody.

“The true number is impossible to establish, as the authorities in Tripoli generally do not divulge information about detainees they are holding and because many areas of the country are not accessible for independent reporting. Some relatives of detainees are also unwilling to publicize their names for fear of possible reprisals.”

Libyan officials did not immediately respond to efforts to obtain a response to the Amnesty International report.

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