Turkish aid agency inspects prison in Libya’s Tripoli

By Jabur Dorken

TRIPOLI, Libya

A delegation from Turkey’s IHH humanitarian relief organization visited Tripoli’s Al-Hadaba Prison this week to inspect conditions at the facility.

An IHH official, who preferred not to divulge his name, told Anadolu Agency that the delegation had arrived at the prison earlier this week after obtaining approval from the Libyan public prosecutor’s office.

Inmates at the prison include a number of figures associated with late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Delegation members met with Al-Saadi Gaddafi, the late leader’s son; Gaddafi-era intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi; and Baghdadi Mahmudi, Gaddafi’s last prime minister -- all of whom are being held at the prison.

“This is a purely humanitarian visit,” the IHH official said. “It is not an attempt to interfere in or affect the judicial process.”

“With the public prosecutor’s approval, we will provide inmates with whatever they need to improve their situation, including medicine,” he added.

Inmates generally enjoy good conditions, he stressed, adding that there had been no complaints of mistreatment by prison authorities.

Some, however, did complain about the slow pace of their respective trials, he noted.

Following the visit, the IHH is expected to issue a report detailing its conclusions.

In recent years, the non-governmental relief agency has also provided humanitarian aid to Libyan families displaced by conflict.

Trials

A number of Gaddafi-era officials have remained on trial since early 2013 after being accused of involvement in acts of violence during and after Libya’s bloody 2011 uprising.

In mid-2015, Libyan courts sentenced nine Gaddafi regime figures to death, including Senussi, Mahmudi and Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, another of the late leader’s sons.

Five of the defendants appealed the verdicts and now face retrial, while four others were acquitted, including Gaddafi-era FM Abdul Ati al-Obeidi.