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III. Transfers to Libya that Began in Asia For three of those interviewed by Human Rights Watch, their returns to Gaddafi’s Libya began in Asia. Their testimonies are described below. Abdul Hakim Belhadj Abdul Hakim Belhadj (Belhadj) 251 said he left Libya in 1988. He fought against the Soviet-installed government in Afghanistan in the early 1990s and later became the leader of the LIFG. After fleeing Afghanistan following the September 11 attacks, Belhadj went to various countries, ending up in China. From there, he and his wife sought asylum in the United Kingdom by traveling through Malaysia. He was denied exit from Malaysia and detained by immigration authorities there. After a subsequent attempt to reach the United Kingdom by traveling through Abdul Hakim Belhadj Thailand, Belhadj and his wife were denied exit and © 2012 Human Rights Watch detained by Thai authorities. They allege that while in detention there they were interrogated and ill-treated by persons they believed were Thai and US authorities. Belhadj and his wife were later rendered to Libya under circumstances indicating American and British involvement, which is corroborated by documents in the Tripoli Documents. Once in Libya, Belhadj was detained for years and subjected to ill-treatment—including prolonged solitary confinement—and numerous interrogations by Libyan, American, British, and other foreign personnel. After six years in Libyan detention, Belhadj was summarily tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. He was released in March 2010 as part of a “de-radicalization” initiative pushed by Saif Gaddafi and later played a prominent role in the revolution. Most notably, Belhadj served as commander of the Tripoli Military Council after revolutionary forces seized control of the city from regime forces in August 2011. He resigned his post in May 2012 to run for election to the National Congress. 251 Abdul Hakim Belhadj also went by the name of Abu Abdullah al-Sadiq, sometimes spelled Sadeq. 91 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | SEPTEMBER 2012
Departure from Libya Belhadj was born in 1966 in Tripoli. He left Libya in 1988 because he said it was impossible to live under the Gaddafi government. “I was forced into exile, I didn’t have a choice! In Libya we were living under a dictatorial regime that did not permit any sort of freedom of thought or expression.… The Gaddafi regime wanted to destroy us.” 252 He was in his last year of engineering school when he left Libya. He first went to Saudi Arabia and then Afghanistan, where he fought against the Soviet occupation of that country. 253 After the Soviet-backed Afghan government of Mohammad Najibullah lost power in 1992, he and other Libyans who were part of the LIFG focused on their main aim—the overthrow of Gaddafi. Belhadj went on to become the leader of the LIFG, which from various locations around the world waged a low-level insurgency against the Libyan government for many years. Belhadj spent time in Turkey, Sudan, and other countries as well. 254 During this time the LIFG had bases in several different countries but also in eastern Libya, where they launched operations against the Gaddafi government. However, in the mid-1990s the LIFG in Libya was crushed, and in 1999 Belhadj, along with other LIFG members, returned to Afghanistan. 255 Before September 11, 2001, Belhadj was based in Afghanistan with other LIFG members. 256 After the attacks, he and other LIFG members left the country, worried they would be swept up in US-led post-September 11 arrests. Belhadj and others fled to different parts of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. 257 By 2004, Belhadj was living in China with his Moroccan wife, Fatima Bouchar. In early 2004, with Bouchar pregnant, the couple feared they were under surveillance and decided to seek asylum in the UK. 258 They first tried to travel to London from Beijing in February 2004, but the authorities in Beijing sent the couple to Kuala Lumpur, from where they had previously travelled. 259 252 Christophe Ayad, “‘We Are Simply Muslim’: Libyan Rebel Chief Denies Al-Qaeda Ties,” Le Monde, translated into English and published by Time.com, September 4, 2011, http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2091744,00.html. (accessed May 2, 2012). 253 Ibid.; Tawil, Brothers in Arms, p. 53. 254 Ayad, “‘We Are Simply Muslim’,” Le Monde. 255 Tawil, Brothers in Arms, p. 179. 256 Ibid. 257 Human Rights Watch interviews with Belhadj, Saadi, Abu Farsan, and others, Tripoli, Libya, March 2012. 258 “Libyan rebel leader Abdel Hakim Belhadj sues British Government for illegal rendition to Libya,” Reprieve news release, December 19, 2011, http://www.reprieve.org.uk/press/2011_12_19_belhadj_action/ (accessed August 6, 2012). 259 “Libyan rebel leader Abdel Hakim Belhadj sues British Government for illegal rendition to Libya,” Reprieve news release. DELIVERED INTO ENEMY HANDS 92
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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
Page 45 and 46: Abu Yasser al Jazairi, from Algeria
Page 47 and 48: Sharif also said he learned the nam
Page 49 and 50: Afghanistan on April 25, 2004. Both
Page 51 and 52: Shoroeiya and Sharif both alleged t
Page 53 and 54: The Interrogators Shoroeiya said th
Page 55 and 56: He said there were doctors present.
Page 57 and 58: Mohammed Shoroeiya said his interro
Page 59 and 60: stan.” 191 Both thought they migh
Page 61 and 62: Shoroeiya said there were intrusive
Page 63 and 64: “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: know what’s going to happen to yo
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 and 116: complicity in his transfer back to
Page 117 and 118: Abu Farsan spent the next decade at
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
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conflict or emergency, may “opt o
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them to Libya in violation of their
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each country to which the agency de
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shelving the Gibson Inquiry and wou
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To the US Congress • Create an in
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To the Government of the Netherland
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Acknowledgments This report was wri
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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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