Armnesty urges probe into death of Libyan in UAE

Arabia.Com Human Rights - September 08, 2001, NICOSIA (AFP) 

Amnesty also noted that the whereabouts of four other Libyans reportedly arrested in the UAE this year remain unknown 

NICOSIA (AFP) - An independent inquiry must be held into the death of a Libyan exile detained in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), human rights group Amnesty International said in a statement received here Saturday. 
Amnesty also noted that the whereabouts of four other Libyans reportedly arrested in the UAE this year remain unknown. 

The London-based body said the wife of Abdullah Abu Al-Qasim Al-Ghazal had been told by police in Abu Dhabi that her husband had committed suicide in detention and to collect his body for burial. 

The 39-year-old, who left Libya in 1989 to avoid arrest because of his religious activities, was detained on August 31 at a mosque in the emirate of Ajman, one of the seven members of the UAE federation. 

"The reasons for his arrest and the place of his detention remained unknown," said the statement. 

Five men and a woman believed to be members of the UAE state security forces Amn Al-Dawla searched the home of the Libyan, who had four children, and asked for his passport, Amnesty added. 

Al-Ghazal fled Libya for Damascus, where he took up religious studies, and arrived in the UAE in 1997 to work as an accountant in Dubai. 

"Amnesty International is concerned that an increasing number of Libyan nationals have been forcibly returned or are at imminent risk of deportation from various countries," the statement said. 

"Several suspected opponents of the Libyan government, especially members of or sympathizers with Islamist groups, were forcibly returned to Libya during 2000." 

"Several people who had been forcibly returned to Libya have reportedly been tortured and killed by the security forces," Amnesty said. 

The other Libyans whose fate is unknown were named as Ahmad Ramadhan Hussain, also arrested on August 31, Ahmad Mohammad Ali Akak and Ali Bashar, both arrested on July 3, and Ali Amish, reportedly arrested around May.