Tripoli- In a scene that reflects the depth of the human rights crisis in Libya, citizen Abdel -Moneim Ragab Al -Marimi died last Friday evening due to his wounds, days after his arrest at the hands of the Internal Security Service and his transfer to the Public Prosecution headquarters in Tripoli.
The incident, which was described as shocking internally and internationally, has highlighted the conditions of the detention centers in Libya, amid escalating questions about the circumstances of what happened, in light of accusations against security services suspected of practicing systematic violations without real accountability.
Local and international human rights organizations have always accused the Internal Security Service of implementing arbitrary arrests, detaining people outside the framework of the law, and committing severe violations inside its headquarters, especially in Tripoli and Misurata.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mu2uvts3wy4
Wholesale accusations
In several recent reports, Amnesty International documented that the agency “arresting hundreds of people without judicial orders, and detaining them in isolation from the outside world” in centers believed to be secret or informal, and without allowing them, often, to communicate with lawyers or their families.
For its part, the United Nations fact mission indicated that the agency “was involved in serious violations that included torture, beatings, and deprivation of health care”, pointing to documenting deaths during the reservation, some of them due to direct torture and others from medical negligence.
As for Human Rights Watch, internal security was accused of targeting civilian journalists and activists, with arbitrary summonses and arrests on loose charges such as “spreading false news” or “threatening national security”, adding that some detainees “were forced to make confessions under pressure, and then published in the official media.”
Despite the repetition of these facts, the agency is still – according to the reports of both the Libyan Organization for Human Rights and the Libyan Human Rights Observatory – is working on broad and unlimited powers, away from any actual judicial or parliamentary control.
Kidnapping, not arrest
And what happened with Al -Marimi, his family issued on June 30, a statement confirming that her son was kidnapped by unknown gunmen while he was with his children in the city of Sorman, south of the capital, in circumstances that he described as “terrifying and surprising.”
Later, the Internal Security Agency announced that Al -Marimi was called on based on “serious investigations” and underwent official investigation sessions late last month, confirming his commitment to “legal procedures and human dignity.”
However, the ambiguity of the timing, the lack of disclosure of the nature of the investigations, and the secret nature of the device, made this narration a subject of widespread skepticism, especially with the recording of previous accusations of the device of documented violations against detainees.
In a special statement to Al -Jazeera Net, human rights activist Jamal Al -Falah said, “What happened to the activist Abdel Moneim Al -Marimi was a shock to the Libyan public opinion.” He added, “His arrest was closer to the process of kidnapping and forced concealment, without revealing his fate, which is a legal violation and a violation of his basic rights, and we strongly condemn this behavior from official agencies in the state.”
On the incident of his death, Al -Falah explained that they all believed in the beginning that it was a “killing” inside the internal security apparatus, but the video published by the Public Prosecutor’s office showed Al -Marimi inside the public prosecutor’s building, which is “in a good condition, without the effects of torture of phenomenon.”
He pointed out that the decision to jump from the upper floor made by Al -Marimi, “seems a mysterious individual decision, which cannot be explained without the presence of fair and transparent investigations,” calling for the necessity of clarifying the full circumstances of what happened, starting from the moment of his arrest.
The absence of accountability
Al -Falah emphasized the responsibility of the official authorities for the way Al -Marimi was arrested, depriving him of the guarantees of a fair trial, on top of which is the right to appoint a lawyer, and see the reasons for his arrest, stressing that “the culture of impunity is still prevalent in Libya.”
He considered that what happened “is part of a broader system of systematic violations”, saying that “detention is outside the framework of law and enforced disappearance has become a repeated method in Libya, unlike the respect of the international community to the international community.”
The human rights activist criticized the weakness of civil society in playing its role, and that instead of being the first line of human rights, he suffers from retreat and division, and the absence of legal protection, due to the policies of restrictions from successive governments.
He stressed the respect of the authorities of human rights, and the issues that do not fall into statute of limitations. “And if the local judiciary is unable to separate it, there is an international judiciary who is able to do so.”
He added, “Human rights are indivisible, and are not related to the orientations of people or their backgrounds, and the defense of Al -Marimi or others does not mean agreement with their political positions, but rather a defense of basic human values.”
The farmer concluded, blaming the full responsibility of the “legislative authorities and de facto authorities”, considering that they are “an essential part of these violations, whether silent, collusion or implicit support.”
On July 3, the Public Prosecutor’s Office announced that it had received the investigation papers from the Internal Security Service, confirming that he interrogated Al -Marimi, and then issued a decision to release him.
According to the statement, Al -Marimi sat in the waiting hall and then went to the toilet, to return and jump from one of the upper floors inside the building “for a clear reason.”
On Sunday, July 6, the prosecution released a video documenting the moment of the fall, in an attempt to deny any criminal suspicion inside its headquarters.
Claims to investigate
However, rights and observers consider that the “prosecution’s offer” does not exempt the state from the responsibility of the foregoing at the moment of death, especially the conditions of detention and transportation.
The cities of Tripoli, Al -Zawiya and Tajoura witnessed angry demonstrations, during which slogans were raised by the government and the security services directly responsible for the incident.
While the Social Council in the Friday market described it as “systematic terrorism against free voices”, calling for holding those involved, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya called for a “transparent investigation”, and the Libyan Organization for Human Rights called for revealing all stages of detention and full records within the Public Prosecution.
The death of Abdel -Moneim Al -Marimi comes at a time when the United Nations and the European Union intensified their pressure on the Libyan authorities to improve its human rights record, especially with the escalation of reports on torture inside prisons and the absence of serious accountability.
