AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

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AAAS Human Rights Action Network

Letter of Appeal from the AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility

20 October 1998

His Excellency Mu'ammar al-Gaddafi
Leader of the Revolution
Office of the Leader of the Revolution
Tripoli
Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
LIBYA

Your Excellency:

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is the largest organization of natural and social scientists in the United States, and the world's largest federation of scientific organizations, with 143,000 individual members and 275 affiliated groups. Our AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility was formed in 1976 to protect the human rights of scientists and to deal with issues relating to scientific freedom worldwide.

We are writing to you to express our deep concern about the imprisonment in June 1998 of scores of individuals, among whom were university lecturers, engineers, medical doctors, and civil servants. It is our understanding that the arrests may have occurred in response to increasing political opposition. The university lecturers were reportedly suspected of being advocates for political change.

We have received information indicating that the individual scientists whose names appear in enclosed list were among those arrested. The committee is deeply concerned that they may be ill-treated.

The Committee calls on your government to immediately and unconditionally release any detainees held solely for the peaceful expression of their opinions. We urge you to see to it that the individuals named in the enclosed list and the scores of others arrested are treated in a manner that is consistent with international standards for the treatment of prisoners.

We ask you to provide any information you may have about the exact nature of their arrests and urge you to make the whereabouts of the individuals known to their family members.


Sincerely,



Irving Lerch Mary Gray
Co-chair Co-chair
AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom
and Responsibility and Responsibility


Enclosures

Name and Occupation

1. Farhat El-Houni Laboratory Technician, Faculty of Engineering
2. Hamed Naser El-Werfalli M.Sc. in Mathematics
3. Tareg Ahmed Bou-Zeriba M.Sc. in Computer Science
4. Salah Omar Al-Shamekh M.Sc. in Zoology
5. Abdel-Barie Al-A 'Rousi Ph.D. in Corrosion Engineering
6. Abdel-la Tief Karmous Ph.D. in Agricultural Engineering
7. Sulaiman El-Fandi Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering
8. Rajad El-Jaroushi Ph.D. in Civil Engineering
9. Sulaiman Ali Khatroush Ph.D., Head of Civil Engineering Dept., Faculty of Engineering
10. Abdullah Ahmed I'zedien Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering (Arrested while giving a lecture at the Nuclear Engineering Department in Qar
Younes University in Benghazi)
11. Salem Abuhanak Ph.D., Head of Chemistry Dept., Faculty of Science
12. Anies Hasan Gwaidhi Student, Faculty of Medicine
13. Nazar Kraikesh Student, Faculty of Medicine
14. Khalid El-Jazwie Student, Faculty of Medicine
15. Hammad Beltaieb Student, Faculty of Medicine
16. Yusef Abu-Sha'Ala Student, Faculty of Engineering
17. Khalid El-Hashmie Medical Doctor
18. Abdel-Rahman
Abdel-Majeed El-Daibani Medical Doctor
19. Jamal El-Majrie Doctor of Veterinary Medicine
20. Abdel-Jawad Mohamed Shatwan M.Sc. Computer Science
21. Ali-El-Sadeg El-Houni M.Sc. Electrical Engineering
22. Khalid El-Hashmie El-Zaroug Engineer
23. Fawzie Wanies El-Ghadhafi Electrical Engineer
24. Adel Saleh El-Werfalli Agricultural Engineer
25. Ahmed Jaballah El-Meghrabie Agricultural Engineer (Reportedly arrested near the Egypt-Libya border while trying to flee the country with his family. He was beaten in front of his family)
26. Kamal El-Wesh Aviation Ground Engineer
27. Faisal Mohamed El-Safi Flight Engineer
28. Fawzie Bu-Katif Communications Engineer
29. Ahmed Dasougi Computer Science Engineer
30. Salah El-Zaroug El-Saa'Itie Civil Engineer
31. E'Isa El-Zwaie Civil Engineer
32. Khalid Mohamed Shoua'Ieb Engineer
33. Mohammad Faraj Al-Qallal Graduate of Institute of Administrative Sciences (Arrested on 5 June. Since 1 July, his whereabouts have been unknown)

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