Christian Peregin
'Go back and die in your own country, hospital is only for Libyans'
Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi
"The guards took my Bible and stomped on it. They asked me if I was Christian or Muslim. I pointed to my cross. They said it was a big sin and beat me with their hands and sticks. From then on, I hid my cross."
Tigiste, a woman migrant who survived a Libyan detention centre, says her uncle, who is still in detention, was tortured with electric shocks and beaten by the guards. When they thought he was dead, they threw his body in the garbage.
"He was there for two days. Then someone went and touched him and he stirred."
Her story is published in a report by the Jesuit Refugee Service, which argues that the migrants' tales are credible because they are so consistent.
The JRS hopes that immigrants trying to reach Europe will stop being returned to Libya, a policy started by Italy in May, which has so far seen more than 1,400 migrants being sent back.
The detention centres are described as hopeless, dark, overcrowded and lacking basic sanitation and hygiene facilities.
Death, violence and racism are said to be the order of the day, with migrants being refused medical care and fed just two bread rolls a day.
One migrant recalls the words guards used to deny help to one of his dehydrated friends: "Here the hospital is not for black people but only for Libyans. If you want, go back and die in your country."
He says a boy, who suffered from asthma, died shortly after being told: "If you come here on your own, you die on your own."
"Many of us had scabies. Some of my friends had swollen genitals. When the guards saw this they beat them hard with a stick, put them in solitary confinement and just left them there," another migrant says.
In August, at least six people were killed and dozens injured when Libyan police quelled an outbreak of 300 detainees in one of the detention centres, according to the Fortress Europe website, quoted in the report.
"The guards smoke hashish and get high and then they hit anyone. When they do the head count, they count each person by slapping or boxing him," one of the detention survivors says.
"We went on hunger strike to leave the prison and they used electric prods to make us stop, jabbing us again and again on our muscles. I can never forget that," another migrant, Asad, is quoted as saying.
The worst thing about detention seems to be that there is no end to it, unless one pays for a way out. One migrant was only allowed to leave after paying $500; another $1,200.
However, even after this sum is paid, the migrants have to survive the dangers of the city and if caught by the police they may easily be detained again.
"Sometimes, those who paid for their freedom were re-arrested a few minutes after leaving prison," Ahmad says.
Living in Tripoli is described as a frightening prospect, living in fear of being robbed or beaten by the locals, even children.
"A little boy will come up to you and search for your money. If you refuse he will hit you, spit at you and report you to the police. You just put up your hands and allow him to check your pockets. You are nothing, he is Libyan."
Even little babies would stretch out their hands, palms upturned, because this is what they learned from their parents.
The authors of the report say a common question migrants ask is whether the international community knows what is happening in Libya, where "people treat you like livestock and exchange you for money".
One migrant said: "I soon realised that there was no big difference between the horrors I saw in Somalia and what I witnessed in the Sahara and beyond. There people dead, here people dead."
The Libyan government has not yet reacted to the damning claims made in the report, which can be accessed on www.jrsmalta.org.
Popular Stories
Update 3: Woman found dead in car,...
Updated: Woman dies in car crash
Carm Mifsud Bonnici resigns after...
Part of Dwejra 'Azure window' collapses
The end of the bar that ‘never closed’
Bundy does not know whether to...
Updated - Jason Micallef demands...
This WAS the night - Kurt makes it...
Petrol price up 6c
In Discussion
Updated - Jason Micallef demands...
Gozo tunnel could take 5-7 years to...
CABS remote controlled aircraft shot...
Carm Mifsud Bonnici resigns after...
Joseph Calleja condemns portrayal of...
Updated: Labour would give...
CABS drone shot down
Second group of migrants arrives
Adrian Vassallo in scathing...
21 Comments
Post comment
Please sign in or create your Account to post comments.
louise vella
Dec 29th 2009, 11:17
The letter writer omitted to quote the following from The Times article about Tigiste:
“Her story is published in a report by the Jesuit Refugee Service, which argues that the migrants' tales are credible because they are so consistent. The JRS hopes that immigrants trying to reach Europe will stop being returned to Libya… The detention centres are described as hopeless, dark, overcrowded and lacking basic sanitation and hygiene facilities. Death, violence and racism are said to be the order of the day, with migrants being refused medical care and fed just two bread rolls a day. .. The Libyan government has not yet reacted to the damning claims made in the report, which can be accessed on www.jrsmalta.org.”
There is a very wide chasm between the version of the Jesuit Refugee Service report and that of the letter writer. As I have no direct knowledge of the facts I don’t know what to believe. I just suspend judgement.
Joe Fenech
Dec 25th 2009, 20:08
Gaddafi is no softy. He knows how to send a strong message!
Robert Callus
Dec 24th 2009, 14:34
@R Azzoppardi
I've neer been to Libya myself, but have relatives who worked there. Rather than 'to protect and to serve' like most police in Malta, police there are to loot and to beat. A person told me he never left the hotel with more money than he actually needed for travel or some necessity. Ironically most thieves he was afraid of were in uniform. This comes from white Maltese people who are treated fairly decently. This situation of blacks, Pakistanis and people of other ethnicities is much much worse
lgalea
Dec 24th 2009, 09:40
Does anyone believe an illegal immigrant who will do and say anything to get to Europe? I Don't. I've been to Libya and I also went to mass in the Tripoli church together with other nationalities without any harassment. So I cannot believe this story. This is apart from all the problems the illegal immigrants are causing in all countries. This is simply a pack of lies.
R. Azzopardi
Dec 24th 2009, 08:43
@R Curmi
Have you ever been to Libya? If you have, I get the impression that you never left your hotel or office block or "camp" (as company compounds are referred to in Libya). I travelled to Libya frequently between 1998 and 2003. I was an adventurous young lad (aged between 19 and 24) and I was not really scared of anything. However, the libyan way of doing things scared the daylights out of me. I felt much safer out in the desert where I could not meet any LIbyan authorities. the highways and cities were an absolute nightmare. Whenever somebody asked me if LIbya was as bad as one thought, my reply was always the same: "no. It's worse!!"
Dennis Zammit
Dec 24th 2009, 07:50
On hearing these stories one would immediately suggest that the Jesuits open centres in Libya and do their pastoral work there.
This would have a two fold effect; reduce the ILLEGAL immigrants from coming to Malta and help them in this 'evil' country.
Richard Galea
Dec 23rd 2009, 21:04
In the 30 years I worked in Libya....I never felt offended in any way by anybody when it came to religion.
Until the beginning of the 80's ..... The shop-owners used to leave their shops unattended in order to go to pray in the Mosques.....This custom even included the gold shops....The shop owners would just leave a broom or a chair on threshold of the gold shop to indicate that he is not inside.
Believe me......anybody could have taken a kilo or two of gold, as even the display windows were unlocked!
My many Libyan friends look back with nostalgia at those times........For they had this sub Saharan immigration problem long time before we had it here.
May I take this opportunity to thank the Libyan people for the hospitality they have shown me throughout all those years.
Also, I do not think that JRS can teach anything new to the Libyan people when it comes to human compassion.
Richard Galea.
R curmi
Dec 23rd 2009, 20:50
Immigrants come with many fancy stories that Libya is hell on earth. Couldnt it be that tehse immigrants have reason to portray a country they just came from as evil? Easy if they say so they have even less of a chance to be sent there again or if their friends and relatives are crossing water they wont be taken back to libya like the italians do.
Also as usual graffiti and Jrs wanna make us cry with such stories. If graffiti and jrs had it their way they would open the doors to all sub sahara africa to come here.
Funny enough both grafitti and jrs dont realise that whilst they are minority who want to live in a black community the rest of us dont
Joseph Cauchi
Dec 23rd 2009, 20:47
@ Sergio Galea Vincenti,
If the influx of Sub-Saharan illegal immigrants into Libya is also negatively affecting Libya, then why don’t the Libyans accuse their Leader Gaddafi who has decided to have open borders with Sub-Saharan countries in order that his great “dream” of unifying all African countries as one group, similar to the EU, comes into fruition?
Is this great “dream” still on the cards, perhaps?
JC.
victor pulis
Dec 23rd 2009, 18:43
The authors of the report say a common question migrants ask is whether the international community knows what is happening in Libya, where "people treat you like livestock and exchange you for money".
Of course they know. but they also know that gaddafi is sitting on oil so they turn a blind eye. On the other hand malta is lambasted at every opportunity because it is just a tiny, overcrowded christian island.
Trevor Lorenzo Mizzi
Dec 23rd 2009, 17:54
@ Martin Triganza,
"The majority of these people live on mugging, stealing Libyans and foreigners, they are also drug traffickers and commit all sorts of crime. "
Is this what we got to look forward to in the nation of my birth, Malta?
This is no different than what I been told from people that use to live in Detroit and had to leave because of the daily crime.
What does the JRS say about all this?
Are they only accountable to their own organization and to no one else?
It seems to be that way.
We never asked for all this.
T. Pace
Dec 23rd 2009, 17:39
If the tales recounted by the numerous 'survivors' are anywhere near the truth, then they would be avoiding Libya.
This is the thanks that Libya is getting for allowing them in that country.
They are turning against that country because it is clamping down on them.
Alexander Morana
Dec 23rd 2009, 14:52
This is just sensationalism by TOM pure and simple on behalf of the JRS.
TOM please give the Maltese a break and a Merry Christmas.
Emile Cassar
Dec 23rd 2009, 14:45
Why the disbelief? Only 70 years ago, a 'civilised' nation called Germany ran concentration camps that killed millions. Only ten years ago, pregnant women were disemboweled in Bosnia and live cats shoved into their wombs. Humans are fully capable of being morons. Whenever these atrocities occured in history, civilians stood back and let them happen. "We didn't know," they later said. Or perhaps they refused to know.
Joseph Cauchi
Dec 23rd 2009, 12:38
Reading these stories, I am inclined to expect that the Hon. Libyan Ambassador to Malta will issue a statement in this regard, as otherwise one is bound to believe that these stories are true.
So, Mr. Ambassador, can we have your comments, please?
Thanks.
JC.
Jason Spiteri
Dec 23rd 2009, 12:14
She got beaten up in a muslim country for wearing a cross?
No worries, that's what Europe is turning into in a little while too, as muslim minorities grow...
Sergio Galea Vincenti
Dec 23rd 2009, 11:45
I am no defender of the Libya state: If anything, reports such as these can be damaging to many people who have invested in Libya and have excellent relations in Libya.
I sincerely wonder what sort of checks were carried out by the JRS about these claims before issuing similar reports? Is the JRS not aware that the UN has a very large presence in Libya? Is the JRS not aware of the large number of visits even to detention centers carried out by numerous delegations - including those from the European Union?
Over the last five years, I have known many migrants living and working in Libya who hail from Mali, Mauritania, Sudan, Somalia and Eritrea and I have never seen or been told of incidents such as the ones alleged in this article.
The truth is that it is normal to see large congregations of migrants loitering in main arteries and roundabouts and being picked up for work by whoever may need their services. And today, these people get paid nearly the same salaries as Libyans.
The truth is that there are many untruths being shot around on the issue of migration.
Sergio Galea Vincenti
Dec 23rd 2009, 11:30
@ Ms. Vella: Well, the JRS should be comforted by the fact that the UNHCR has a presence in LIbya and yet, reports such as the one featured in The Times are quite unique in many ways.
I can speak from direct experience having until recently worked there: I have never experienced directly or indirectly any form of discrimination due to my religion. Of course - as would be expected from non-Catholics in Malta - a certain degree of respect for Libyan culture, religion and way of doing things is always advisable.
I can speak for hospitals in Tripoli: I have seen many Somalis, Eritrean and migrants from sub-Saharan countries receiving treatment - particularly in the main general hospital. From what I know through colleagues based in Benghazi, the same can be said of hospitals there.
Whilst condemning without any reservation all forms of oppression and abuse, I cannot but point out two important considerations: The first is that organisations like JRS forget that Libya has given refuge to around two million migrants when its population is of less than six million. The second is that not all migrants are law abiding citizens in need of protection.
C.ZARB
Dec 23rd 2009, 11:28
I am sure that JRS, Graffitti and the rest of the merry band will organise a protest in front of the Libyan embassy. Meanwhile the EU, UNHCR and UN will threaten Gheddafi with sanctions. Oh wait, we are talking about a rich country which Europe needs desperately. Considering the circumstances we can close an eye or two can we?
Martin Triganza
Dec 23rd 2009, 11:01
I work in Libya and can tell you that Libya has a greater problem then us Maltese to handle the millions and not thousands that have invaded their country throughout these years. The majority of these people live on mugging, stealing Libyans and foreigners, they are also drug traffickers and commit all sorts of crime. The Libyan people have the courage to deal with this huge problem in their own way and nobody can condemn them because nobody knows the suffering of the Libyan people due to these illegal immigrants. The population in Libya is approximately 5 million and they have another 5 to 8 million illegal immigrants wandering in their country without a permit. I feel sorry and pity for such people but when you see and feel what the illegal immigrants do here in Libya, hatred will replace pitiness.
louise vella
Dec 23rd 2009, 10:37
The Jesuit Refugee Service has no option. It must set up a branch in Libya to fight for the human rights of Sub-Saharan Africans there. It's not much use preaching from the safety of Malta. The Jesuit Refugee Service must also launch a high profile campaign, through its usual network, to improve the way the Libyans treat their African brothers from other countries on the same continent as they.