Tuesday, January 18, 2011

A British businessman tortured in Libya without reason

Geneva Match - The story of Henry Djaba, a British businessman, kidnapped, tortured and arbitrarily detained in Libya between March and October 2010, had everything to provoke a diplomatic crisis. But against a backdrop of renewed relations between London and Tripoli, the case has made little noise, resulting in three articles in the press and a statement of the Foreign Office said it had acted "like any British national in similar circumstances ".

Mr. Djaba, 46, considers himself to have been abandoned to his fate, on behalf of commercial interests. "During my detention, they told my family not to alert the media. On my release I was asked not to publish my case, I even suggested to resume my business in Libya!" Says he will widely publicize adding "this international crime." In London, the business man of Ghanaian origin has filed a civil complaint against Libya and three of its nationals - including Mohammed Treki, son of the Libyan Minister of African Affairs in 2009 and President of the General Assembly UN - claiming 20 million pounds (24 million).

He also brought a criminal action. It is now in Geneva that he wants to act. The Swiss NGO Trial (Track Impunity Always) was mandated to take the case to the UN rapporteur on torture and the Working Group on Enforced Disappearances. The Committee on Human Rights could be seized. Since his release, Mr.

Djaba was a thick file which, he believes, "should give pause to businessmen who work in Libya." Everything had begun auspiciously. In spring 2009, his company Lakeland, initially specializing in oil trading, intermediaries play in an investment project in Libya two luxury hotels in Nigeria.

In February 2010, he signed a major contract to supply electricity in Chad. That's when things turn sour with his partner, Mohammed Trek: "He suddenly demanded a commission of 70% on the hotel project, and then demanded that I transmit 50% of my company. I have refused," says Mr. Djaba.

31 March 2010, he was kidnapped in Tripoli, in broad daylight by gunmen. Sponsors, which include a General Military Intelligence and a former director of radio and television Jamahiriya, appear to be related to Mr. Treki. Henry Djaba is thrown into a dungeon of the prison of Abu Salim. Never charged, it will be held until September 3 in an area of 1.80 m by 1.20 m, private window and bed, without any member of the British Embassy, yet informed of his disappearance from April 6, he says, came to see him.

He was regularly beaten and drugged. "My cell was infested with insects and I looked like a Neanderthal," he reflects. His captors treated him "dirty negro" and wake up several times, thinking it will be executed. When he refused to sign a document, one of them beat him, breaking several ribs.

He was transferred to another place of detention: "Every day, they tried to make me confess that I was a spy, a human trafficker, pimp or a crook." September 13, when he was taken to a police station, Mr Djaba meeting for the first time a team from the British embassy in Tripoli. Presented the following days before three successive Libyan prosecutors, it appears free of charge, but must wait 16 October for permission to leave the territory.

On 10 November the Foreign Office in response to an article in the Evening Standard, has finally decided to confirm his detention. Since then, nothing. Mr. Djaba spoke November 19 at the Foreign Office to access his file - a right of every British citizen. In an email dated 20 December, he replied that "exception" could be applied to him, since access to the documents could be "injurious to international relations." A definitive answer must be communicated by mid-February 2011.

Agathe Duparc
Posted by Manlio Gandolfi at 1:59 PM

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