BELGIUM: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT CRITICISES LIBYAN HUMAN RIGHTS / ANTI GADDAFI DEMONSTRATIONS IN BRUSSELS.

Record ID: 647559

  • Title: BELGIUM: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT CRITICISES LIBYAN HUMAN RIGHTS / ANTI GADDAFI DEMONSTRATIONS IN BRUSSELS.
  • Date: 27th April 2004
  • Summary: (W6)BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (APRIL 27, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. CLOSE-UP OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL REPORT 2. WS: OF PAGES OF THE REPORT BEING TURNED. 0.11 3. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) DICK OOSTING, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR, BRUSSELS, SAYING: "Well, surprising (Gaddafi's visit), but whether it's a rehabilitation remains to be seen. Gaddafi surprised Amnesty too by allowing us to visit the country after 15 years of being banned. And, during that visit, we were able to see prisons, prisoners, but also Gaddafi himself and he made already positive noises about the need to improve human rights and promised to make change, he repeated that promise. And now, we'll have to see whether he puts it in practice." 0.37 4. WS: CUTAWAY. 0.41 5. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) OOSTING SAYING: "There have been some improvements, but the basic situation is still very bad. People are imprisoned for their beliefs, people are tortured in jail, there are unfair trials, the death penalty is also used in political cases, people are extra-judicially executed. So, you have the whole range of gross human rights violations still in practise there." 1.01 6. WS: CUTAWAY. 1.04 7. SCU:(SOUNDBITE) (English) OOSTING SAYING: "One very specific example is for Human Rights activities and freedom of expression. You get punished by a special court, the People's Court, and you may even get the death penalty." 1.16 8. MV: ANTI GADDAFI DEMONSTRATORS HOLDING BANNERS SAYING: 'THE FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION = THE DEATH PENALTY' AND SHOUTING 'GADDAFI - DICTATOR' IN ARABIC. 1.26 9. SCU: OF ANTI-GADDAFI DEMONSTRATOR SHOUTING. 1.34 10. SCU: (SOUNDBITE (English) ANTI-GADDAFI DEMONSTRATOR, FATHI ABDEL SALAM, SAYING: "We are here today to protest against this visit. All the humanity, all the international society knows that he is a dictator.... he is a dictator and he killed a lot of people in Libya. In...he killed more than a thousand political prisoners in Libya. And European Union invites him, and receives him as a good person...we're against that." 2.03 11. WS: OF PROTESTERS WITH BANNERS, ONE MAN SHOUTING 'GADDAFI - CRIMINAL!' 2.06 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 12th May 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
  • Country: Belgium
  • Reuters ID: LVABUOIX7O2INZL23P1N2APUWFOK
  • Story Text: Human rights group Amnesty International criticises
    Libya which, it says, continues to jail, torture and
    execute political prisoners.



    Human rights group Amnesty International on Tuesday
    (April 27) published a catalogue of Libyan human rights
    abuses to coincide with leader Muammar Gaddafi's
    ground-breaking visit to the European Union's headquarters.

    Amnesty says Libya continues to jail, torture and
    execute political prisoners, and urged Gaddafi to follow
    through on promises to establish a "normal criminal law
    procedure".

    "Libya must turn human rights promises into action.

    There is an urgent need to establish the truth over past
    events and for Libyan authorities to commit to domestic
    reform to address current abuses," Amnesty said in a
    statement.

    Gaddafi -- who has been pulling Libya out of diplomatic
    isolation -- earlier this month praised Amnesty's
    international rights work and pledged to scrap the
    country's system of "revolutionary courts".

    Gaddafi had unexpectedly said in December Libya was
    abandoning efforts to acquire banned arms and has let U.S.

    inspectors comb weapons sites and remove sensitive
    equipment.

    These concessions, plus an admission of responsibility
    for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, have paved the way for
    better relationships with the West.

    Gaddafi met EU's top officials plus Belgian Prime
    Minister Guy Verhofstadt to discuss closer trade and
    cultural links on Tuesday.


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