Libya: Trial begins against government critics

Libya: Trial begins against government critics As the trial opens against 12 men detained in connection with a planned demonstration against the authorities in February 2007, Amnesty International calls on the Libyan government to open a full, impartial and independent investigation into reports that at least two of them have been subjected to torture and to ensure that they are afforded the right [...] Amnesty International is also raising concerns that the 12 individuals have been held in incommunicado detention for prolonged periods of time since their arrests in February 2007 and that they are effectively being punished for their peaceful political opposition to or criticism of the government. [...] Idriss Boufayed, a Libyan surgeon formerly in exile in Switzerland and secretary general of the National Union of Reform (NUR), was apparently the first of the 12 to be arrested. [...] Idriss Boufayed, along with three other men, al-Mahdi Saleh Hmeed, Ahmed Youssef al-Obaidi and Bashir Qasem al-Hares, had published a communiqué on news websites announcing that they were planning a peaceful demonstration, to take place in Tripoli on 17 February 2007, to commemorate the first anniversary of the killing of at least 12 people and the injuring of scores more during a demonstration in [...] Jum’a Boufayed said that he had recognized the officer apparently in charge of the operation as the head of a local branch of the Internal Security Agency.