Libya: The arbitrary detention of Abdurrahman AL FARJANI before the UN Working Group

On 24 April 2024, Alkarama submitted to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention the case of Abdurrahman Abduljalil Mohamed AL FARJANI, arrested on 27 December 2014 at his home in the Al Lithi neighbourhood by an armed militia affiliated to Khalifa Haftar.  

A minor at the time of his arrest 

For nearly two years, AL FARJANI was held incommunicado at the Bersess centre (30km east of Benghazi) a detention and torture centre set up in May 2014 by a militia leader of Khalifa Hafter, Ferj Al Gaim Al Abdeli, currently deputy interior minister in the Benghazi ‘government’. A few months after the victim's arrest, his family home was burnt down by militiamen and his entire family was ordered to leave the city.

Transferred to Al Koufiya prison in Benghazi in 2016, AL FARJANI was able to receive a few rare visits from his family members and was able to testify to the particularly inhumane treatment he had endured and the torture in detention to which he had been subjected, in particular electric shocks and prolonged suspensions which have left after-effects to this day.

He was constantly detained with adults despite his age and was never formally charged or tried, giving his deprivation of liberty an undoubtedly arbitrary character.

Arrested on 27 December 2014, he did not appear for the first time before an authorised judicial authority, a local military prosecutor, until 21 January 2022, and has not been tried since.

Alkarama stressed in his communication that it was the responsibility of the Libyan State to provide adequate assistance to a minor, taking into account his age and situation, as set out in article 3 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Alkarama has never failed to point out that the authorities in Benghazi are also obliged to respect the international covenants and conventions ratified by Libya.