The Libyan Supreme Court's reported a decision on October 9 to retry 86 political prisoners is a hopeful sign of reform, Human Rights Watch has announced. These Muslim Brotherhood members have served seven years in prison for nonviolent activities after being convicted by a now-closed tribunal that violated fair-trial standards under Libyan and international law. "While the Libyan government had promised us that the political prisoners would be released unconditionally, their retrial is still a welcome step," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa director. "The Libyan authorities should now provide a prompt and fair trial with international observers."

The EU is advocating the creation of refugee regional processing centres in North African countries. Foremost amongst countries being recruited to enforce European border controls is Libya. A report that first appeared in the Italian newspaper L'Espresso on 24 March 2005 looks at how Libya treats refugees and documents the grim fate awaiting those returned to Libya from Italy under a recent migration accord.

Addressing leaders of the African continent meeting in Libya, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced the launch of a new initiative to financially support States undergoing the democratization process. Mr. Annan told the African Union (AU) Summit in Sirte that the new UN Democracy Fund will provide assistance to countries seeking to establish or strengthen their democracy. "A number of Member States have already indicated their intention to contribute," he said, voicing hope that others would follow their example.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, an independent organization of journalists dedicated to defending press freedom around the world, has written to the Libyan authorities to express its shock and grave concern about the apparent murder of Libyan journalist Dayf al-Ghazal al-Shuhaibi, a former journalist for the government-owned daily Azahf al-Akhdar and contributor to the London-based Web sites Libya Alyoum and Libya Jeel. Al-Ghazal's body was found in Benghazi, his hometown, on or about June 2 after he went missing from his home on May 21, according to several sources. Justice Minister Ali Hasnaoui said al-Ghazal was shot in the head and the death was being investigated as a murder, according to international press reports.

At least 14 African migrants trying to reach Italy drowned when their boat sank off the coast of Libya, and three other passengers were missing, the Libyan Interior Ministry said. The boat had aboard 23 illegal migrants - from North and Sub-Sahara Africa countries - when it sank off An Noukat al Khams area, some 30km west of Tripoli, a few hours after it left Libya for Italy on Sunday.

Reporters sans frontières (RSF) has called for the release of cyber-dissident Abdel Razak Al Mansouri, whose arrest on 12 January 2005 has just been reported. He criticised the Libyan government on a United Kingdom (UK)-based website. There has been no word of him since his detention. "The authorities already control all the traditional media and now they are trying to gag the Internet, the last window on the outside world still accessible to Libyan citizens. This is a major blow for human rights activists who have found the Internet to be an effective tool for gathering and disseminating information," RSF said.

The minister for the Interior, Papa Owusu Ankoma stated that the government of Ghana had received complaints by many Ghanaian nationals on their treatment abroad. This in particular included Ghanaians who by some reasons were repatriated, suffering various humiliations including being flown in cargo flights without humane facilities, seizure of their passports, imprisonment without trials and others. Most complaints had been received from Ghanaians expelled from Libya.

The U.N. refugee agency Tuesday criticized Libya for its deportation of Eritreans last month, calling it a "severe violation" of African and international rules of protection. "UNHCR is concerned over the ongoing forcible return of potential refugees from Libya," said Ron Redmond, spokesman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. "It also raises concerns over the intentions of the Libyan government to ensure minimum standards of treatment for persons who might be in need of international protection."

As Libya gradually loses its pariah status and slowly but surely returns to the bosom of the family of acceptable nations, changes are also afoot within the state-run Libyan economy. Money is being spent on the country's tired and overstretched telecoms infrastructure and Libya now has a new mobile phone network that has introduced a sort of competition into what was a massively overpriced and moribund sector. However, both the new 'Libyana', and the original 'Al Madar', are owned by the Libyan government.

Security sources said that two illegal Egyptian immigrants died and 18 others were injured from excessive heat after being deported by Libyan authorities. The Egyptian sources told United Press International the immigrants, trying to sneak into Europe through Libya, were deported by Libyan authorities to the Egyptian border.

“Human Rights Watch has learned that your government may be in the process of forcibly returning Eritrean refugees and asylum seekers in Libya to Eritrea, where they face unlawful detention and probable torture. We have received reports that Eritreans are currently being held in Kufra, Misurath, and Tripoli in anticipation of mass deportation to Eritrea.”

A Training Session for 50 Libyan officials and police representatives, organized by the International Organisation for Migration and the Libyan People's Committee for Public Security will discuss issues such as border migration management and assisted voluntary return for stranded migrants. Libya is a country of transit and destination for migrants and is therefore engaged in addressing the phenomenon in a comprehensive manner both bilaterally and multilaterally.

Amnesty International has released a new report, 'Libya: Time to make human rights a reality', detailing the findings of the organisation's first visit to Libya in 15 years. The report - released on the day of Libyan leader Colonel Mu'ammar al-Gaddafi's visit to the European Commission in Brussels, his first to Europe in 15 years - reveals a pattern of on-going human rights violations, a continuing failure to investigate and resolve past abuses, and a climate of fear in which most Libyans are afraid to raise concerns over current and past violations. While welcoming some positive developments, Amnesty International said that a comprehensive program of reform is needed to address these human rights concerns.

The chief prosecutor at the UN's new court for Sierra Leone has repeated claims that the Libyan leader is behind the past decade of war in West Africa. The accusation against Muammar Gaddafi was made by David Crane in an interview with the BBC. Mr Crane said there was a detailed plan by Mr Gaddafi to destabilise several West African countries which had caused widespread suffering in the region.

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has considered the periodic reports of Libya on its implementation of the provisions of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Presenting the reports was a representative from the United Nations Department in the General People’s Committee for Foreign Liaisons and International Cooperation in Libya, who said that Libya had been a pioneer in the fight against all forms of discrimination. In the course of the discussion, which was held over two meetings, the issues of the Berber population in Libya, migrant workers and Libya’s assertion that no racial discrimination existed in the country were addressed, among other subjects.

In a world seemingly gone mad, it is ironic that one of the most sane and reasonable actions to come out of the Middle East recently has emanated from the government of Muammar Qaddafi, the Libyan dictator long recognized as an international outlaw, says a new commentary from Foreign Policy in Focus. Libya's stunning announcement that it is giving up its nascent biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons programs and accepting international assistance and verification of its disarmament efforts is a small but important positive step in the struggle to curb the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). It would be a big mistake, however, to accept claims by the Bush administration and its supporters that it was the invasion of Iraq and other threatened uses of force against so-called "rogue states" which pursue WMD programs that led to Libya's decision to end its WMD programs.

Foreign ministers from across Africa on Tuesday rejected Libya's controversial proposal for a "United States of Africa", saying the vast continent was not ready to merge into one country with a centralised administration.

The likely election of Libya to a key United Nations post on Monday will put a spotlight on its human rights record and on efforts by abusive governments to undermine the international human rights system, Human Rights Watch says.

Libya firmly denied last Saturday that its troops have entered the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in support of rebel groups, following a protest by the DRC to the UN Security Council.

Libya’s Minister for African Unity, Ali Abd al-Salam Turayki, said on Sunday that his country wants to revive the joint Egyptian-Libyan initiative to end the Sudanese conflict.
He told reporters that he had discussed "reactivating the Egyptian-Libyan initiative to achieve unity in Sudan" with Egyptian President Husni Mubarak, AFP reported.