Moroccans in the libyan hell

[sbs]

Silence of the authorities, disabled families, the martyrdom of the Moroccan prisoners in the Libyan prisons is a scandal. The AFVIC (Association of the families and friends of the victims of the clandestine emigration) speaks about 2000 prisoners who stagnate in various prisons of Jamahiriya to have tried to pass to Italy. And since Association made public a special telephone number to the attention of the families of disappeared Moroccan out of Libyan grounds, the calls do not stop. And then, there are also these testimonys of Libyans rescapés of the geôles which tell all the horror of their stay. A made stay of intimidations, tortures and deprivations to which the suffering of the private families of any contact with theirs is added. Mokhtar, 22 years, manages with difficulty to find the words to describe these two months spent in the prison (center of retention for the official Morrocans) El Fellah of Tripoli "I left during the month Ramadan 2005 to Tripoli. At the beginning, I settled in the Tarablus hotel where I met that which one called El Haj, the person in charge for the crossing towards Italy. I gave him the sum of 1500 euros. I took, on his instructions, a taxi in direction of the port of Zouara ", tells the young person khouribgui. It will never arrive there.

Now Apocalypse
The taxi is intercepted on the way by a patrol of police force. Mokhtar and three other Morrocans will be thus stopped and écroués in the police station of the town of Zouara. "One spent four days in this place. Insults, blows of fist and club, the guards quite simply tortured us. There were Morrocans, but also Tunisians and much the Sub-Saharan ones ", remembers Mokhtar. After these hard days spent in this place named "the orphanage ironically", Mokhtar is transferred to the prison from Tripoli. With the same batch of intimidation "We were nearly 260 Morrocans in this prison. It was prohibited to us that with two meals per day, mainly of macaronis. It was able to them to awake us at two o'clock in the morning to count to us. A torture moreover. It was to us interdict of speaking about our rights or requiring the presence of a consular agent. If one évertuait oneself to make claims, one was immediately coiled blows ", deplores it. Five days after the arrest of Mokhtar, its family reserves already her round trip ticket to him and the téléfaxe to the embassy of Morocco in Libya. It will wait one month and half to be able to turn over to the country "I met an employee of the embassy of Morocco twice. I recalled him with each time my family already faxed the ticket of return. In vain ", it sighs. No moment, Mokhtar was translated in front of an unspecified jurisdiction. And to date, its passport is always confiscated to him.

Coiled blows
The case of Mustapha is even more eloquent. This young 25 year old mechanic, originating in the town of Khouribga, saw his voyage ending with the airport of Tripoli "As soon as my passport was seen, the police officers stopped me. They showed me to want to emigrate clandestinely whereas they did not have any proof. When I protested, me was coiled blows ", remembers it. According to Mustapha, this scene took place in an office of the airport. It was abused by these representatives of authority because it required its right to return to the country, since one refused the access to the Libyan territory to him "We were sixteen Morrocans with being taken in the vice of the police officers of the airport. They insulted us, struck us. They confiscated us our money. They stole me all what I had, 2500 euros ", tells it. The night, the prisoners were transported towards another place, "the service of the passports". "There, the police officers excavated us thoroughly. And if by misfortune, a prisoner protested, it was systematically tabassé ", adds it sadly. The following day, Mustapha and the others join large quota of the prisoners to the prison El Fellah. It passes there more than two weeks, with its batch of daily brutality. Before leaving, an agent brings back 290 euros for him. It will not see the remainder of its money, that is to say 2210 euros. "I gave 250 euros to the consular agent which bought the round trip ticket to me. Our rights were ridiculed, but we had only one idea at the head, to leave indemnes this nightmare ", concludes it, depity.

Disappeared
According to testimonys' of rescapés, the Moroccan prisoners stagnate under conditions even more dramatic, in the other Libyan prisons, in Mesrata, Zliten, Dafniya or Jmil. The prisoners do not have any means of coming into contact with their families. Mrs. Chaïbia Idrissi does not have any more a news of her son Abdelilah, and this since June 2, 2003. One week earlier, Abdelilah, at the time 25 years, tries the Libyan experiment in the search of a job "During the first days, it did not stop telephoning to me. Then, nothing ", remembers any more El Hajja, the tears with the eyes. Start then for this mother, a search which does not find any outcome to date. It contacts the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, badgers the consulate with Morocco in Libya and the Libyan representation with Rabat. Into vain "Everyone says to me that my son died. Me, I do not believe in it. Neither Morocco, nor Libya, gave me the proof of its death. Me, I believe that it is in one of the Libyan prisons ", shouts this mother meurtrie. And it has all the reasons to believe in it since testimonys of the "ghosts" speak about prisoners who have been in the Libyan prisons for several months, even several years "last week, a witness identified in a center of detention, disappeared originating in the town of El Gara. Its family, which did not have a news of her child any more since months, had decided to make her mourning ", brings back Mr. Khalid Jemmah, president of the AFVIC. But why this country did become recently a territory of transit towards Italy? "It is simple. Since the installation of new radars on the Moroccan coasts and the intensification of the patrols, to make a success of the passage towards Spain in one will patera became impossible mission. From where the attraction of this new destination. There is also the fact that the Maffias of the Libyan emigration use trawlers. What represents less risks than the small boat of fortune ", explains Paco, member of the AFVIC. All starts with a recruiter who indicates to the candidate with the "hrig", the name and the telephone number of the "harrag" (passor).

Libya Connection
Recruiters whom one finds in all the cities of the country, with a particular concentration in "the triangle of dead" (Khouribga, Béni Mellal and Kelaât Sraghna). The voyage is done most legally of the world, by plane. On the spot, the candidate comes into contact with the supposed intermediary to organize the crossing towards the Italian island of Lampedusa. The price varies between 20.000 and 50.000 Dhs. According to testimonys' gathered by the AFVIC, these operations succeeded in the past. But, at the beginning of 2003, the things will change radically. Libya will sign with Italy a cooperation agreement in the fight against the clandestine emigration. In addition to the common patrols, the Libyan authorities stop from now on any person who does not have a residence permit. This change of strategy will be reinforced after the shipwreck of a boat transporting some 200 clandestine parties of the port of Zouara, not far from the border with Tunisia. Among the hundreds of disappeared that their families believe dead, several would be in centers of detention. An action on behalf of the Moroccan authorities is imperative to elucidate the fate of these Morrocans and to return the smile to their families.

[-thetruth_]

too bad but nothing new. libya is another terrorist camp.

[brim]

Let's not forget that Morocco also detains what it sees as illegal immigants. This sort of thing is happening right across the Maghreb.

[-thetruth_]

trust me. Last year 10.000 illegal Algerian were deported and some ~~~~40.000 a year were from Africa and majority were all looked after. i saw a program on TV and the police were trying hard to arrest Algerians who were illegal and local people were shifting them from one place to another. they 've also shown african playing footballs and working without any rights. they sadly live in the underground places in really bad conditions. I am not saying that the police are great( I never liked them) but local people would never grass anyone.
I said libya is a terrorist camp because Kadafi is terrorist number 1

[brim]

Looked after? Like those that were taken out in to the desert and left there?