Sub-Saharan migrants free after months of captivity. Thousands still in Libyan prisons

09/28/2011 20:37
LIBYA
Sub-Saharan migrants free after months of captivity. Thousands still in Libyan prisons 
Considered Gaddafi?s mercenaries, they are still targeted by insurgents. Hundreds testify violence and arbitrary arrests. Sirte and Bani Walid still in the hands of the Rais. Concern about the lives of over 200 thousand people.

Tripoli (AsiaNews) - About 200 sub-Saharan migrants found freedom after months of captivity in the refugee camps on the border with Niger. In a report launched by the BBC, they tell of being subjected to violence by the rebels, because they were accused of being Gaddafi mercenaries. Due to complaints of human rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, they will be repatriated to their countries.

James, 26 years nigerians, he worked for two years in a construction company. After the fall of the Rais was captured by the rebels and accused of being a mercenary. "They thought that I was a Gaddafi?s supporter - he says - the rebels hate blacks because they consider them mercenaries of the regime. It is not safe for us to be in Libya. "

During the capture of Tripoli, hundreds of migrants have fled the city for fear of reprisals, finding refuge in a makeshift refugee camp, now under the tutelage of Doctors Without Borders. Interviewed by the BBC, they report that many of the rebels followed them inside the camp. To the cry of "murtazaka" ("mercenary" in Arabic), the rebels destroyed the barracks, beaten and raped women and arrested the men. The same scenario also happened in other cities.

Tiziana Gamannossi, Italian entrepreneur in Tripoli, said that a few weeks the situation has improved. "In the capital, many migrants have returned to work - she says - some are used in the sanitation of the city, resumed during these days. Others have been summarized by employers."

Despite the slow return to normality and the reassurances of the CNT on the treatment of prisoners, thousands of people remained in the prisons, mostly are blacks. Many of them detained without trial. They are denied the possibility of having a contact with lawyers and families. A woman speaks to the Bnc about the violence for trying to defend her husband dragged to jail because it was considered a mercenary. "I have not heard from him so far ? she says - I'm afraid of everything that happens in this country. I would ask the rebels to release my husband. He is innocent. It is a quiet man and not a mercenary."

In these months, the CNT has repeatedly called to his fighters to avoid unnecessary violence and bloodshed. The appeal has been raised recently, but has not been very successful. Libya is still a country at war and there is a high risk of further reprisals and revenge. In Sirte and Bani Walid, Gaddafi's last strongholds, are ongoing fighting between rebels and loyalists. NATO and Red Cross are worried about more than 200 thousand civilians that live under bombings for two weeks with food and water and rationed. Those who tried to escape said that the situation is chaotic. In the city there is no electricity and there is a high risk of epidemics. The roofs are still full of snipers that shooting against anyone, but from outside the rebels continue to launch rockets and bombs to force the last loyalists to surrender. (Sc)

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Sub-Saharan-migrants-free-after-months-of-captivity.-Thousands-still-in-Libyan-prisons-22765.html