Advocating Constitutional Democracy in Libya
March 30, 2009
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Obama:
The American Libyan Freedom Alliance (ALFA) was founded on September 29, 2003, and registered in the State of Virginia. Its primary mission is to promote human rights and democracy in Libya through advocacy and education. Since ALFA’s inception, we have undertaken several activities, and held conferences to bring attention to serious violations of human rights in Libya, under its current regime. One such Conference was dedicated to the massacre of 1200 Libyan Political prisoners at a notorious prison in Tripoli, Libya.
Libyan and International human rights groups have reported numerous human rights abuses by the Libyan regime, most prominently amongst them is the massacre at Abuslim prison, on the outskirts of Tripoli on June 28, 1996. This heinous crime resulted in the cold-blooded murder of 1200 political prisoners. Since then, the Libyan regime has consistently denied the occurrence of such a massacre until April 2004, when the regime reluctantly admitted to having committed such a crime, and pledged an investigation. Such a rare admission of a crime was forced upon the Libyan regime after an eyewitness account of the massacre at Freedom House, Washington, DC, to commemorate the eighth anniversary of the tragedy. To date, no such investigation has ever taken place, and it is unlikely that it will ever happen without international intervention.
Most recently, over the past few months and weeks, Libyan security agents have been releasing victims’ names to their families, with death certificates claiming natural deaths due to a variety of diseases, although no victims’ remains were thus far received by any of the families. Upon the receiving the news of the deaths of their loved ones, family members and supporters, have protested the news and demanded to know the circumstances, location of remains, and have demanded a through investigation in the massacre and trial for those who instigated and taken part in the crime. Some of those protesters were lawyers who lost their close relatives in the massacre; those lawyers have demanded justice for the deceased and open trials for all those who were involved in the crime. Instead of heeding the legitimate demands of the lawyers and families of victims, the Libyan regime responded with arrests and imprisonment of the protesters, particularly among the ranks of the lawyers. Numerous Libyan human rights groups in exile have added their voices to the protesting lawyers and the victims’ families in demanding justice be served, and all those imprisoned be released immediately.
We are asking you to add your voice to ours and other human rights groups to ensure compliance with the demands of the victims’ families, the release of all protesters, and to demand an open and thorough investigation in the massacre, through participation of international observers.
Sincerely,
Mohamed M. Bugaighis, Ph.D.
Chairman, American Libyan Freedom Alliance (ALFA)
__________________________________________________________________________________
ALFA, P.O. Box 22262, Lehigh Valley, PA 18002, USA; website: http://www.alfa-online.net
Telephone: 610 703 1382, e-mail: info@alfa-online.net