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DE RUEHTRO #0057/01 0261449
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O P 261449Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4362
INFO RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEHTRO/AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI 4886

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TRIPOLI 000057 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR S/WCI, L (SCHWARTZ, POMPER) AND NEA/MAG (NARDI, JOHNSON) 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  1/26/2019 
TAGS: KBTR PREL PGOV PHUM PTER PINR PINS LY
SUBJECT: LIBYA REITERATES REQUEST FOR RETURN OF LIBYAN DETAINEES AT GUANTANAMO BAY  REF: A) TRIPOLI 47, B) STATE 6516  

CLASSIFIED BY: Gene A. Cretz, Ambassador, U.S. Embassy - Tripoli, U.S. Dept of State. REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 

¶1. (C) This message contains a guidance request - please see para 3.  In a meeting on January 22 to discuss the case of detained human rights activist Fathi el-Jahmi (ref A), Saleh Abdulsalam Saleh, Director of the Qadhafi Development Foundation's (QDF) Human Rights Committee passed P/E Chief a copy of a letter from QDF Executive Director Youssef Sawani to the International Committee of the Red Cross (text below).  In it, Sawani expresses concern about Libyan nationals detained at Guantanamo Bay and requests the ICRC's assistance in obtaining information about their legal status and facilitating their return to Libya.  The letter indicates that the QDF is acting with the official blessing of the GOL.  Saleh underscored the GOL's keen interest in having the Libyan nationals remaining in Guantanamo repatriated to Libya, and asked that the USG provide information concerning the legal status of Libyan detainees and whether and what steps could be taken to facilitate their return.  We undertook to convey the request for information to the Department and reminded Saleh that while we had formally requested information on the status of legal proceedings against two Libyan detainees already returned from GTMO to Libya (diplomatic notes were most recently sent in June, August and November 2008), we had never received a response.  Saleh agreed to follow up with the General People's Committee for Justice (ministry-equivalent) and security organizations to obtain that information.  We also reminded Saleh that we had still not received a response to our request in November for access to the two returned detainees.  

¶2. (SBU) Also on January 22, Saleh gave an interview to Agence France Presse in which he said Libya had reiterated its request that the U.S. repatriate Libyan nationals still held at Guantanamo Bay, and that the QDF had asked the ICRC to help obtain information on the legal status and health of those detainees.  In the article, Saleh said the GOL and QDF were "very concerned by the lack of information about ... Libyans held in Guantanamo".  P/E Chief contacted Saleh and conveyed ref B points, highlighting that the ICRC was a channel through which the QDF and GOL could work to obtain further information regarding Libyan nationals at GTMO.  

¶3. (SBU) Request for guidance: Post requests guidance as to what further information we might convey to the QDF and GOL about the legal status and health of their detainees and what steps, if any, the GOL can take to help facilitate their repatriation to Libya.   (SBU) (Begin text of letter)  Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation  Date: Jan 20, 2009 Ref: 09/107  To: Mr. Chairman of the International Committee of the Red Cross  Dear Mr. Chairman  Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation sends its greetings and assurances to you and to your working teams for the humanitarian efforts you are making in many places around the world, and which reflect the great need for concerted efforts to face the conditions hostile to human rights and man's right to a decent life in freedom and peace.  Within the framework of these concerns that occupy a priority on the list of GDF concerns and interests, and further to our previous correspondence regarding the Libyan nationals detained in Guantanamo, we would like to turn to you again to express our concerns over the absence of accurate info on the rest of the Libyan detainees.  Dear Mr. Chairman,  The foundation truly trusts your appreciation of the validity of this concern, and the significance of the role you can play in this regard, and specifically to enable the Foundation - which has an official authorization from the GPCFLIC - to learn directly of their health and psychological conditions and status and to follow up their legal rights and to verify the extent to which guarantees are implemented to secure the requisites for those conditions and rights.  It is perhaps necessary in this regard to remind of the contents of the reports made by the UN Anti-torture Committee and in which the Committee expressed its concern over the conditions of  TRIPOLI 00000057  002 OF 002   the American prisons, and especially Guantanamo and its call to shut it down.  The reports by this esteemed Committee and the Third Geneva Convention regarding treatment of war prisoners do in fact consolidate the Foundation's request to assume oversight of the file of the Libyan nationals detained in Guantanamo.  Based on its humanitarian role, the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation reaffirms the need to have access to communicate with the Libyan nationals detained in Guantanamo; and to take the above considerations seriously and extradite them to the Libyan State in case there are any grounds for their indictment and following the example of other countries' nationals.  Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation avails itself of this opportunity to reiterate its highest respect and consideration, and its willingness to open new cooperation horizons with you on issues of mutual interest.  Sincerely yours,  Dr. Youssef Mohammed Sawani Executive Director Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation  (End text of letter) CRETZ