Eritreans suffering in a Libyan Detention Center

 On Sunday afternoon I was informed that 110 Eritreans are detained in Zawia Libya. This detention center is located 25 KM away from the Libyan Capital Tripoli. According to one of the detainees, these poor souls have been detained there since August 2007.

The person who brought this sad story to me helped me get in touch with one of these detainees. This way I learned that these helpless Eritreans have not got any help from any humanitarian organizations to-date and have been suffering from:

1. Torture - they are beaten by the Libyan authorities almost on daily basis.

2. They have no clothes to cover their flesh during torture.

3. They have no enough food to eat while in prison.

4. Among them many are sick. Some of them even believe that the Libyans are taking their organs (such as kidney) in hospitals.

5. Three of them were taken by the Libyan authorities at different times and never showed up again.

This being the story I learned from them, they asked me to pass it to all Eritrean Humanitarian Organization.  I sent an email to Amnesty International yesterday. I hope everybody does whatever is possible to help them.

In case you need to get in touch with one of the detainees by phone, I can ask the person that brought this sad story to my attention to give you the phone number.

Please advise me what can be done to help.

Respectfully,

Kidane Araya, PhD.