…families cry for state intervention More than 500 Ghanaians are currently languishing in some jails in Libya in conditions that can only be compared to those of the concentration camps in the slave trade era. They are therefore calling on the government of Ghana to help save their lives which is under threat of execution.
The crime of these Ghanaians according to information available to ghananewsonline.com.gh is that they entered that country through unapproved routs. We gathered that some of them have been in jail for over two years now without trial.
Our sources at Kufra Maximum Prison in Libya which is habouring about 100 Ghanaians, explained that most of the ‘prisoners’ are ‘pail and ill’ but the Libyan authorities do not care about their health situation.
Currently, there is an outbreak of communicable diseases in most of those congested places where these Ghanaians are being kept and there are fears that some of them may die before the Libyan authorities kill them, as there are no medical facilities nor health personnel at the prisons
According to the source, one of the ‘prisoners’ who he (the source) managed to speak with gave his name as Abbdul Bashiru Ibrahim, a 35-year-old who was said to be accosted at police barrier from Derna to Benghazi after close of work and he has been held behind bars for over one year now.
Our investigative team traced the address, Mr Bashiru Ibrahim gave to to a house in Accra and caught up with some family members who are perplexed about their son’s predicament especially the aged mother.
In an interview with the brother of the detainee, Shafaru Ibrahim told the team that their family is devastated when the news got to them. “My brother called home and told us about his ordeal and ever since the family have been going through hard times, especially our mother.
“As you can see she has reduced in size because she has not been eating, she has become restless and no one can tell what will happen to her if my brother is not released soon,” he stated.
Mr Ibrahim explained that his brother got in touch with the family with the help of a detainee who managed to send a mobile phone into the prison.
He however, corroborated our source’s account that some of the detainees have started vanishing into thin air which has brought fear and anxiety among them, since no one knows his faith as to who will be next to disappear.
The source noticed that some of the detainees cannot be found in the prisons and we cannot question anybody.
The source told our team that some of the detainees have spent over one year and have not been questioned by the Libyan police or taken to court.
“The food they eat in the prisons cannot be described, as it is difficult to find words to described the food and most of us are sick but we don’t get any medical attention,” the source added, while maintaining that the Libyan authorities constantly subject their detainees to torture, making a number of them to get physically weak.
“If no intervention by the country’s government as well as international and civil rights organisation is taken all the detainees will not get out of these place alive and those who will come out will not be fit for the rest of their lives,” It lamented.
It is on this note that they are calling on the government through the Ministry for Foreign Affairs to move swiftly to save those hundreds of Ghanaians whose fate hangs in the balance.
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