Excerpt from document
(C) Summary: Human Right Watch's December 12 launch of its
latest report on Libya -- the first such launch in-country --
provided an unprecedented public forum for discussion of Libya's
past abuses. The event degenerated into a shouting match
between regime critics and supporters, some of which appears to
have been scripted.

Full Document
ClassificationSECRET//NOFORN Header
VZCZCXRO1304
OO RUEHTRO
DE RUEHTRO #1021/01 3541450
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
O P 201450Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5609
INFO RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEHSW/AMEMBASSY BERN 0062
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 1527
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS 0854
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS 0971
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT 0915
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 1203
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0871
RUEHTRO/AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI 6159
Content
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 TRIPOLI 001021

NOFORN
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR NEA/MAG AND DRL/NEASA, LONDON/PARIS FOR NEA WATCHERS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/20/2019
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, PREL, LY
SUBJECT: HRW RELEASES REPORT FROM TRIPOLI AT LIVELY MEETING

CLASSIFIED BY: Gene Cretz, Ambassador, U.S. Embassy Tripoli,
U.S. Department of State.
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d)
1. (C) Summary: Human Right Watch's December 12 launch of its
latest report on Libya -- the first such launch in-country --
provided an unprecedented public forum for discussion of Libya's
past abuses. The event degenerated into a shouting match
between regime critics and supporters, some of which appears to
have been scripted. HRW officials credited Saif al-Islam
al-Qadhafi as key to the event, stating that his personal
involvement prompted them to move them the event from Cairo and
enabled the families of several victims of the Qadhafi regime's
abuses to travel from Benghazi to the event. HRW told us
privately that Justice Secretary Mustafa Abduljalil is a
proponent of rule of law, and urged the USG to provide technical
support for Libya's new draft criminal code, for which HRW
already has provided 30 pages of comments. We believe this
proposal is worthy of further consideration, particularly under
the auspices of our bilateral Human Rights Dialogue. End Summary.

2. (C) Representatives from Human Rights Watch (HRW) credited
members of the Qadhafi Development Foundation (QDF) for the
latter's "brave and risky" facilitation of an event in Tripoli
launching the rights group's first comprehensive report on Libya
since 2006. The December 12 press conference brought members of
the Libyan and international press together with relatives of
past victims of Libyan human rights abuses -- and members of
Libya's powerful security forces. While HRW staff recognized
the historical and political significance of launching the
report from Tripoli, they were careful not to overstate its
importance or make assumptions on what it would mean for
resolving outstanding human rights issues. Tom Malinowski,
director of HRW's Washington office, told Poloff that the QDF's
release of a similar report on December 10 was likely designed
to reduce the sting of HRW's report by giving a national voice
to human rights recommendations. Despite Saif al-Islam's
positive intervention, authorities detained at least five
families of the 1996 Abu Salim prison riot on their way from
Benghazi to the event and denied visas for Washington Post and
New York Times journalists to attend the HRW's press conference.

3. (S//NF) A phone call from Muammar al-Qadhafi's staff putting
HRW on notice for a possible audience with the Libyan leader
thirty minutes before the scheduled start of the press
conference nearly caused a last-minute cancellation, but the
event began with only minor technical complications. The crowd
was twice as large as HRW expected, with approximately 80
journalists, diplomats, and government critics in the room. At
least four security agents took notes, photos, and film of the
proceedings; the primary cameraman had served as poloff's
assigned surveillant for nearly six months. HRW briefly
outlined its report, citing improvements on freedom of
expression and the increased willingness of some public
officials to accept and act on criticism. They acknowledged
that many of Libya's major cases stem from events many years
old, but that their concerns related to those cases would remain
until victims and their relatives were given full accounts of
and received justice for past violations. Thanking the QDF for
its facilitation of both their study tour in April and the
in-country launch of the report -- a fact that put Libya ahead
of many other Arab states -- they also took so-called reformers
to task for not doing enough to codify and institutionalize
progress on human rights that has so far been won with support
from Saif al-Islam and members of his inner circle.

4. (C) The short briefing and recommendations were followed by a
lively question-and-answer segment that quickly degenerated into
a litany of grievances against the Internal Security
Organization (ISO) for years of repression. A family member of
a victim of the Abu Salim riot, holding a photo of his dead
brother, described his brother's case in detail claiming the
family had taken food and clothing to the prison for 13 years,
until they received a death certificate this spring that lacked
a cause of death. A woman from Benghazi asked whether HRW would
apply pressure on the GOL to prosecute the director of an
orphanage accused of sexually abusing girls under his care.
Journalists and security agents swarmed those who spoke, some of
whom were flanked by known employees of the QDF.

5. (C) After several longer testimonies, a journalist from state
news agency JANA spoke, claiming to have accepted government
compensation for his brother's death at Abu Salim. He railed
against HRW and those continuing to petition the government for
justice on past abuses as "anti-Libyan" and denounced HRW for

TRIPOLI 00001021 002 OF 003

holding Libya to different standards than the rest of the world.
He asked how HRW's report could even be written when abuses
like "the war in Iraq, Abu Ghraib, and Guantanamo" went
unpunished. He defended Libya's actions as necessary to keep
the country safe, and noted that no attacks like 9/11 could
occur on Libyan soil due to these protections. HRW reiterated
its non-governmental and politically neutral status, and pointed
out that it had been the first organization to report on alleged
abuses at Abu Ghraib. While HRW's explanation appeared to calm
some in the audience, his statements ended what appeared to be a
carefully scripted piece of theater. The next speakers, only
some of whom seemed to be at the event at the invitation of the
QDF, made more vocal complaints on the deaths or disappearances
of relatives and made specific claims against the ISO.

6. (C) The event quickly evolved into an angry shouting match
between government supporters and a sizable group of Libyan
citizens urging the creation of compensation and truth
commissions. The pro-government crowd, taunted by members of
the audience as ISO agents, verbally attacked the HRW and their
detractors, causing several individuals from both sides to storm
out. After this public catharsis had endured for over 90
minutes and with no further questions about the content of the
report, HRW ended the press conference and spoke individually
with several government critics. (Notably, the actual events
differed from a Times of London report, which exaggerated the
details of the role of GOL security officials in "shutting down"
the press conference.) Watching from the parking lot, emboffs
observed several of the most vocal government critics entering a
large van with staff from the QDF unhindered by security agents.
Others, including a lawyer claiming to have represented Idriss
Bufayed, departed individually without apparent incident.

7. (C/NF) In a December 13 meeting, HRW staff told the
Ambassador that Saif al-Islam had personally intervened to allow
the group to launch the report from Tripoli and that his
influence had led to unprecedented access and openness from both
high-ranking Libyan officials and ordinary citizens. HRW moved
the planned launch from Cairo to Tripoli in mid-November at Saif
al-Islam's encouragement, and the QDF facilitated meetings and
visas for HRW. Contrasting their experience with their first
visit in 2005, they remarked that everyone from lawyers to ISO
director al-Tuhamy Khalid spoke more freely about Libya's human
rights culture and no longer "cited chapter and verse of the
Green Book." Malinowski assessed that a stalemate between
"law-and-order" officials like Justice Secretary Mustafa
Abduljalil and security officials like Khalid would make further
progress on human rights difficult. Recounting a two-hour
"philosophical debate" with Khalid, Malinowski said the ISO
Chief recognized he was operating his organization outside the
law by holding some 330 prisoners who had been acquitted or
served their sentences, but justified his inaction on the
grounds of national security and Libya's fight against terror.
Khalid ended his meeting with HRW by telling them, "There are
some criminals who don't deserve human rights. Other than that
you and I agree on everything."

8. (C/NF) HRW recommended that the U.S. support those elements
of Libyan society that sought to institutionalize human rights
protections. They see Abduljalil as a proud nationalist who
believes in the principles of justice and the primacy of law and
chalks up Libya's fitful march toward human rights legitimacy as
"birthing pains" of a nation that is just reentering
international society. Abduljalil told HRW that he would
continue to fight against the culture of corruption that allowed
security services to operate above the law. HRW sees the draft
criminal code -- written under the QDF umbrella -- as a key, yet
still insufficient part, of institutionalizing human rights
protections within the Libyan legal structure. They provided
post and the QDF with 30 pages of recommendations on the draft
law -- which has been circulating for at least three years --
that would bring Libya's penal code in line with international
human rights norms, and suggested that U.S. technical experts
play a role in finalizing the draft code, through the provision
of technical assistance. While they recognize that change will
come slowly in Libya's security organizations, HRW said that
U.S. security officials might be able to deliver messages to the
ESO and ISO on the long-term (in) effectiveness of aggressive
detention and questioning policies. To help insulate Libya's
fledgling progress from the whims of its personality-driven
political system, HRW advised that enshrining human rights

TRIPOLI 00001021 003 OF 003

protections into the law and its application will be fundamental
to real societal change.

9. (C) Comment: Press reports on the tensions between security
officers and regime critics at the HRW launch event were
overstated. Most of the proceedings, including some of the
back-and-forth between victims' families and security officials,
seemed to follow a script that exalted the work of Saif al-Islam
but remained carefully within the "red lines" that would cause
significant offense. Although known security agents
photographed and videotaped the event, and some families were
detained for a short time and ordered not to travel from
Benghazi to Tripoli, there are no reports that security
officials took punitive action against regime critics.

10. (C) Comment continued: This event -- the first-ever of its
kind in Libya -- helped solidify Saif al-Islam's reputation as a
"reformer" and also undoubtedly pushed the envelope with some
Old Guard elements. The draft criminal code strikes us as an
interesting opportunity for real reform in Libya. It is
encouraging that the Libyan Government is engaged in a dialogue
with HRW on the specifics of the draft legislation, and we
believe that HRW's suggestion that the USG consider providing
technical assistance merits further review. The draft criminal
code, including our providing the background to U.S.
jurisprudence handling of free speech, assembly, and criticism
of public officials, could be good topics of discussion for the
working groups that will be convened under the auspices of our
Human Rights Dialogue. End Comment.
CRETZ