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Muhammed Abu Farsan © 2012 Human Rights Watch Muhammed Abu Farsan Muhammed Abu Farsan (Abu Farsan) 352 was a member of the LIFG who left Libya in 1990. He spent a decade in Libyan opposition training camps in Afghanistan and Sudan. After the September 11 attacks, Abu Farsan traveled to multiple countries with his family seeking asylum. While in transit in the Netherlands on the way from China to Morocco, he sought asylum in the Nether- lands but his asylum claims were ultimately denied. The Netherlands deported Abu Farsan and his family to Sudan, where he was taken into custody. Abu Farsan said that in Sudan he was interro- gated by Sudanese authorities and by a man who introduced himself as being with the CIA. After two weeks the Sudanese transferred him to Libya, where he spent several years in Libyan detention and was subjected to prolonged solitary confinement and repeated interrogations by Libyan authorities. Ultimately he was charged and tried for his involvement with the LIFG, convicted, and sentenced to life in prison. He was detained in Libya until February 16, 2011, as the uprisings against Gaddafi began. Human Rights Watch interviewed Muhammed Abu Farsan in Tripoli in March 2012. The following account and quotes are drawn from this interview unless otherwise noted. 353 Departure from Libya In 1982, when Muhammed Abu Farsan was about 18, he joined the police department. In 1988, against his will, he was transferred to the military. During his military service, he said, he came under pressure because of his religious beliefs. The military was a secular institution and he said those who were devout Muslims were held in suspicion. At some point during his military service, he was arrested and detained for a month. In June 1990, he suspected the security service was looking for him again, so he decided to leave Libya. 352 Muhammed Abu Farsan’s name is sometimes spelled “Mohammed Abu Fursin” or “Abufersin.” He has also gone by the name of Abu Zinad. 353 Human Rights Watch interview with Muhammed Abu Farsan, Tripoli, Libya, March 26, 2012. 111 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | SEPTEMBER 2012
Abu Farsan spent the next decade at Libyan opposition training camps in Afghanistan and Sudan, with brief visits to Egypt, Malta, Saudi Arabia, and Syria. He told Human Rights Watch, “Afghanistan was a good place for the Libyans to train to get new skills to fight Gaddafi. At the time there was no other country that allowed us to be together and train.” In 1994, he returned to Libya to visit family and stayed for two years, much of it in hiding. Then in June 1996, he left again, this time going to Sudan to train with the LIFG. He spent about five years in Sudan and got a Sudanese passport. In May 2001, he went to Syria and got married, and then shortly afterwards he went to Afghanistan. When he arrived in Afghanistan, Abu Farsan said, everyone at the various training camps knew that al Qaeda was planning some sort of operation against the United States. He said there was an open debate about it amongst all of the various groups. Even many al Qaeda Arabs did not agree with bin Laden’s methods, he said: “The LIFG did not want anything to do with it. We did not agree with these actions, but Afghanistan was a refuge for all wanted people.” After the September 11 attacks, Abu Farsan said he spent the next several months “running around all over the place trying to find some safe refuge.” He went first to Pakistan, then to Syria and Iran. Along the way, his wife gave birth to a son, so he returned to Sudan to add his son to his passport. He spent the next few years on the move, moving back and forth among Syria, Iraq, Malaysia, and China. “I was worried constantly I was going to get caught any minute,” he said. During this period, he was in contact with Belhadj and Saadi, who were also in Asia at the time. In early 2004, he decided to seek asylum in Europe. On February 19, 2004, traveling with Moroccan passports, Abu Farsan, his wife, and his infant son, boarded a KLM flight bound for Morocco via the Netherlands. “I thought that if I made it to Holland and asked for asylum, I would be okay there. My son was less than two years old,” Abu Farsan said. When he arrived in the Netherlands, the Dutch authorities held him for six months while they entertained his asylum application. The Dutch authorities found his Sudanese passport and were trying to insist he was Sudanese but he told them that he was in fact Libyan but could not get Libyan documentation from the Libyan government. He applied for asylum based on his Libyan nationality saying he could not return to that country. The Dutch authorities appear to have given his application consideration. He was provided a lawyer and took part in immigration proceedings. At one point he said he was asked to DELIVERED INTO ENEMY HANDS 112
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H U M A N R I G H T S W A T C H Del
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Copyright © 2012 Human Rights Watc
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Mustafa Jawda al-Mehdi ............
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This report is based mostly on Huma
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These stories provide new details a
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Gaddafi opponents in Libya. Ten of
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treatment. Nor did they protect det
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two more the following April. Commu
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esponsibilities. Mehdi and Shoroiey
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identified in this report to Libya,
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of compiling the names of those who
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Libya from the 1970s to the 1990s I
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Gaddafi also made major changes to
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Abu Salim massacre, in which prison
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insurgency, mainly in eastern Libya
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In late autumn of 2007, these repor
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econciled with Gaddafi and a number
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PLACES OF ARREST, DATES OF TRANSFER
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Shoroeiya and Sharif said that once
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Arrest and Detention Shoroeiya and
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CIA Rendition Transportation Proced
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Both were detained in this first lo
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Abu Yasser al Jazairi, from Algeria
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Sharif also said he learned the nam
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Afghanistan on April 25, 2004. Both
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Shoroeiya and Sharif both alleged t
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The Interrogators Shoroeiya said th
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He said there were doctors present.
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Mohammed Shoroeiya said his interro
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stan.” 191 Both thought they migh
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Shoroeiya said there were intrusive
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“The biggest suffering for any pr
Page 65 and 66: Majid Mokhtar Sasy al-Maghrebi Maji
Page 67 and 68: him in Pashto, they spoke to him in
Page 69 and 70: Loud music was blaring constantly.
Page 71 and 72: On various occasions while detained
Page 73 and 74: he was in Karachi, Pakistan. After
Page 75 and 76: faces. He said he saw from the eyeh
Page 77 and 78: His interrogators would come to him
Page 79 and 80: He again went on hunger strike, ask
Page 81 and 82: Di’iki was detained in solitary c
Page 83 and 84: Mustafa Salim Ali el-Madaghi Mustaf
Page 85 and 86: took photos of him; put him in diap
Page 87 and 88: flight plan to go into Nouakchott,
Page 89 and 90: Mehdi said he first went to Saudi A
Page 91 and 92: Pakistanis responded in Pashto. He
Page 93 and 94: There were about 12 interpreters, p
Page 95 and 96: know what’s going to happen to yo
Page 97 and 98: Departure from Libya Belhadj was bo
Page 99 and 100: ‘This is it.’ I thought I would
Page 101 and 102: information with you [Libyan securi
Page 103 and 104: equests for information from Abu
Page 105 and 106: subsequently was able to receive vi
Page 107 and 108: Sami Mostefa al-Saadi © 2012 Human
Page 109 and 110: making harsh statements against the
Page 111 and 112: denied permission for the Libyan ai
Page 113 and 114: Saadi said he was held without char
Page 115: complicity in his transfer back to
Page 119 and 120: They noted in the fax that they und
Page 121 and 122: On June 7, 2006, Abu Farsan was tra
Page 123 and 124: Safrani in Afghanistan, said that t
Page 125 and 126: V. The Case of Ibn al-Sheikh al-Lib
Page 127 and 128: In late 2001, Pakistani authorities
Page 129 and 130: 2004, al-Libi recanted the informat
Page 131 and 132: held until December 2006, when the
Page 133 and 134: It is not clear when Ibn al-Sheikh
Page 135 and 136: Mostafa al-Mehdi (see above) saw al
Page 137 and 138: VI. Detainees Rendered From Other A
Page 139 and 140: appointed a lawyer who he said did
Page 141 and 142: In early 2008 he was charged with b
Page 143 and 144: government. After 1992, when the go
Page 145 and 146: governments during the Gaddafi gove
Page 147 and 148: conflict or emergency, may “opt o
Page 149 and 150: them to Libya in violation of their
Page 151 and 152: each country to which the agency de
Page 153 and 154: shelving the Gibson Inquiry and wou
Page 155 and 156: To the US Congress • Create an in
Page 157 and 158: To the Government of the Netherland
Page 159 and 160: Acknowledgments This report was wri
Page 164: Recreation of Document 2144 SUBJECT
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Translation of Documents 2164-65 Al
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Delivered Into Enemy Hands US-Led A
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Delivered Into Enemy Hands - Human Rights Watch

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