Delivered Into Enemy Hands - Human Rights Watch

He had been allowed to see his Algerian wife, Fawziya, and his child, Aisha, for the first
time in September 2004. The last time he had seen Aisha, she was nine months old. “By
this time [she] was running around and talking,” he said. 210 He saw them again two months
later, but then not again until April 2006. After that he received four visits and then no
visits for another two years, after which he was able to see his family for about half an hour
every 60 days. Several months after her husband was apprehended in Pakistan, Fawziya
contacted the Libyan embassy in Pakistan. They did not have any information on her
husband’s whereabouts, but made arrangements for her and her daughter to go to Libya to
be with Shoroeiya’s family. She had never been to Libya before. It was not until August
2004 that she had any news about her husband. “The first time I knew he was alive was
when the Americans handed him over to Musa Kusa,” she told Human Rights Watch. 211
After several years of detention without charge, Shoroeiya was finally taken to court. On
his first appearance, the court read out the charges; the next time, the court appointed him
a lawyer; and the third time, the court sentenced him to life in prison. 212 He told Human
Rights Watch,
“It was like an absurd play. I was presented to the court in June, met my
lawyer once, and then they sentenced me in July. The whole thing, the three
days combined, took about an hour.”
Despite the sentence, he said he still was hopeful that he would one day be released. “In all
honesty, I could even imagine us sitting here like we are right now, having a conversation,”
he said. “I knew there were people like [Human Rights Watch] out there trying to get the
truth, letting people know about Gaddafi and all that was going on at Bagram.” Shoroeiya
was imprisoned until February 16, 2011, when the uprising began against Gaddafi.
Shoroeiya said the most difficult thing him while in Libyan custody was that he knew how
his detention was affecting his family. He said,
210 Human Rights Watch interview with Shoroeiya and his wife, Fawziya, and daughter, Aisha, Misrata, Libya, March 27, 2012.
211 Human Rights Watch interview with Shoroeiya, Fawziya, and Aisha, March 27, 2012.
212 Shoroeiya did not make clear with what offense he was actually charged.
57 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | SEPTEMBER 2012