Tuesday, Nov 08, 2011
By Margaret Coker
Of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
TRIPOLI (Dow Jones)--Tensions between Libya's new revolutionary forces and Moammar Gadhafi's old guard spilled over at what had been a secret detention center where the Tripoli military council has locked up alleged security officials from the Gadhafi regime.
A protest by families of the detainees entered its second day outside the makeshift Tripoli prison on Tuesday, accusing security forces serving the new state with carrying out similar abuses to those suffered by prisoners under the former regime.
At the razor wire-topped gates of the former Hudba el-Gassi military-police base, frantic mothers and wives argued with burly men in uniform to find out under what law their men were detained, and who was in charge of their fate.
"Everyone inside has blood on their hands. They are traitors to the revolution," yelled a bearded jailer, wearing a pressed camouflage uniform and carrying a semiautomatic weapon.
"Liar!" screamed back a wizened woman with a pink headscarf.
Similar scenes played out countless times during Gadhafi's 42-year rule--only now, those in the roles of jailers and detainees have been reversed.
The simmering tensions reveal the challenges facing Libya's former rebels as they struggle to build working civil institutions such as police forces and courts.
They also show the chasm between civilian leaders--who have promised to pursue reconciliation with former regime supporters--and the armed forces, who are meting out a cruder version of justice on the streets.
(This story and related background material will be available on The Wall Street Journal website, WSJ.com.)
Small-scale clashes break out nightly in the capital, and reports suggest detentions are on the rise, although Libyan authorities haven't released any figures.
The families of the men held in Hudba el-Gassi see themselves as test cases for how the new Libyan reality will unfold and whether transparency, fairness and the rule of law can take root.
"They say they are cleaning up Gadhafi's crimes, but they are acting like new Gadhafis," said Intisar al Bahi, the sister of one of the detainees, about the men in charge of the jail.
For now in Libya, truth and fairness remain malleable concepts, no less so than at the detention center.
At least 40 men were being held inside, according to family members of the detainees. Many of these men were arrested during night raids on their houses by armed units soon after Tripoli was liberated by rebel forces in late August, they said.
The jailers are a brigade of fighters whose commander is Hakim Belhaj, a former Guantanamo detainee whose military prowess helped free Tripoli.
Guards present on Tuesday wouldn't say how many men were held inside. However, they and many family members said the detainees were being treated with a modicum of respect: The men have been allowed family visits, are fed twice a day and are allowed exercise.
Several protesters conceded that their relatives held positions within Gadhafi's security apparatus. What remained unclear to them was why they were arrested, what evidence classified them as security threats, and who signed an order for them to be picked up.
Frustration and a lack of answers from jailers sparked a protest Monday night in front of the detention center. Approximately 50 family members, mostly women and teenage girls, chanted slogans such as "The revolution was for freedom, not for revenge."
On Tuesday morning, the families gathered again: this time with banners and homemade signs showing pictures of their relatives.
Bahi doesn't deny that her 45-year-old brother Walid worked for Gadhafi's internal security service. But his circumstances, she said, aren't black and white.
Walid Bahi was a devout Muslim who went to Afghanistan in the 1980s--under the leadership of Belhaj--to fight against the Soviet army, his sister said.
She said he was jailed by Gadhafi in the mid-1990s for antiregime beliefs, along with many members of the now-defunct Islamist group that Belhaj headed. He was released in 1997 when he promised to work as an informer--but did so under threat of torture.
"I supported the revolution, not Gadhafi, but I believe my brother has the same rights as me, the rights we were all fighting for," said Intisar al Bahi.
For close to an hour, the protesters stopped traffic along the two-lane road outside the main gate, shouting for the jailers to have the commander talk to them and answer their questions.
Fifteen men, armed with assault rifles, approached the women from the jail's gates, but didn't speak to them.
Around an hour into the stand-off, the jailers summoned a mediator. The officer, Hisham al-Tumi--who served under Belhaj before taking office in the interim government--is responsible for transferring prisoners under militia control to detention centers mandated by the National Transitional Council.
Tumi calmly talked to a half-dozen protesters, writing down their names and contact details and the names of their relatives in detention, before going inside.
Meanwhile, tempers flared. An elderly women shrilly denounced the jailers. "They are torturing people in there," she yelled.
Prison guards shouted out counter allegations. "Your men aren't innocent. You're lying if you say different," said one gray-bearded guard.
One of their detainees was a shift commander at the notorious Abu Salim prison, where jailers killed an estimated 2,000 prisoners in the 1990s, they said. Another detainee, they said, informed Gadhafi's spies when men went to pray at the mosque. "They are traitors to Libya," shouted one guard.
When Tumi reappeared, the families crowded around him, seeking answers. His response was terse. "They told me that they would send your relatives to the prosecutor within three days and that they would have their day in court," Tumi told the crowd. "They told me that they have evidence and proper warrants against each one."
Shouting began anew. What courthouse would be open in three days to hear the cases? Where are the arrest warrants?
"Wait until the trial," he said.
-By Margaret Coker, The Wall Street Journal;
margaret.coker@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
08-11-11 2230GMT
