Delivered Into Enemy Hands - Human Rights Watch

Tawaty said that for the first six days he was handcuffed to a very uncomfortable chair and
prevented from sleeping. He asked for a lawyer and to speak to his family, but these
requests were refused. He was not physically abused except once when a Mauritanian
officer slapped him across the face.
His interrogators wanted to know about the LIFG and other groups in Afghanistan, with
whom they were associated, who he knew, what LIFG members were in other countries,
and what sorts of operations they were planning. He told them that he was part of a group
opposed to Gaddafi but that he was not involved in any military actions. He admitted that
others in the group were but that he was not involved in that part of the organization. They
gave him a polygraph test to see if he was telling the truth. After his questioning ended, he
was taken back to the Mauritanian intelligence department.
Tawaty said he then escaped from detention. He told Human Rights Watch that the Mauritanian
authorities did not have sophisticated security and it was not difficult to find a way to
break out. Tawaty fled Mauritania for neighboring Mali and managed to elude arrest until
May 14 or 15, 2006, when the authorities arrested him along with Sheik Othman (see below).
They knew who he was and the name he went by—Abdul Rahman. Three days later he was
sent back to Libya. He did not know where he was going until they arrived at the airplane.
He was initially detained in Tajoura, then subsequently at the internal security department
on Sikka Road, Ain Zara, and finally Abu Salim, where he was held from December 13, 2007
until February 16, 2011.
Othman Salah (Sheikh Othman)
Human Rights Watch interviewed Othman Salah (Sheikh Othman) in Tripoli in March 2012.
The following account and quotes are drawn from this interview unless otherwise noted. 441
Sheikh Othman left Libya in February 1990 “due to the abuses of the Gaddafi regime,” he
said. Prior to this he worked for a manufacturing association. He initially went to Saudi
Arabia, Pakistan, and then Afghanistan, where he fought against the Soviet-installed
441 Human Rights Watch Interview with Othman Salah, Tripoli, Libya, March 15, 2012.
137 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | SEPTEMBER 2012