CANADA HONORED LIBYAN FOR SPEAKING OUT ON HUMAN RIGHTS AS TODAY WILL RECEIVE THE HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH PRESTIGIOUS AWARD FOR THOSE WHO PUT THEIR LIVES ON THE LINE TO DEFEND THE RIGHTS OF OTHERS 13TH NOVEMBER 2013 Hassan al-Amin faced threats, torture and jail in Moammar Gadhafi’s Libya for speaking out on human rights. Now he’s had to flee from the thuggish militias who are struggling to take over the country after a 2011 revolution ousted the dictator, leaving a scene of chaos and confusion. On Wednesday, Amin will receive Human Rights Watch’s prestigious Alison Des Forges award for those who put their lives on the line to defend the rights of others. The dinner at Toronto’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel also celebrates the 10th anniversary of HRW Canada. Amin’s story is a microcosm of Libya’s own struggle for freedom and democracy over the past five decades, and goes a long way toward explaining the wrong turns the country has taken. MORE FROM THESTAR.COM Libya PM Ali Zidan freed from captivity after abduction by gunmen Born during the reign of British-backed King Idris — a relatively free period that was plagued by increasing corruption and stagnation, 9-year-old Amin saw thousands throng the streets to cheer for Gadhafi’s 1969 military coup. “People were fed up with living in a country that was named as one of the poorest in the world, totally dependent on the U.S. and Britain,” Amin said in Toronto on Monday. “Political parties were banned. We had a progressive constitution, but very few people knew about it.” But the cheering stopped as Gadhafi’s rule became increasingly dysfunctional, with repression, nepotism and grandiose international schemes replacing urgent economic planning. The student movement, long a pillar of opposition, was brutally crushed in 1976, and teenage Amin joined the dissident movement. In 1982 he was rounded up by Gadhafi’s security forces, beaten unconscious and tortured. “I was head of administration for the university in Beida (in eastern Libya), and we were suddenly told to move the faculty to Benghazi,” he said. Revolutionary Guards entered the university, beat people, pushed them onto a stage and forced them to be filmed cheering for Gadhafi. Amin was singled out as a counter-revolutionary ring leader. “When I was released, they told me I had to go and join a revolutionary committee,” he said. Instead, Amin made his way to Tripoli, bluffed his way out of the country and flew to London. There he became an expat leader of anti-Gadhafi protest for three decades. It was sometimes a lonely effort. After Gadhafi made a deal with the West to dismantle Libya’s nuclear program, he ceased to be an international enemy. When the Arab Spring swept through Libya in 2011, Amin returned to his hometown of Misurata while it was under siege. After NATO’s intervention and Gadhafi’s overthrow, Amin won a seat in the country’s first freely elected parliament. But almost immediately, he sensed things were going wrong. “There were divisions in the militias. There was looting. Prisoners were taken, and I started witnessing and documenting their treatment.” In Misurata, he said, militias took over the houses of visiting workers who had fled during the revolution. Houses were blown up, and there was a wave of kidnapping — including the brief capture of Prime Minister Ali Zidan last month. “The revolution was hijacked,” Amin said. His protests against thuggery and human rights violations made him a marked man among some militias. And his outspoken criticism of a radical local mufti in defence of women’s rights brought more death threats. “They were on my mobile, my Facebook page, everywhere. I knew it was impossible to continue my work.” Amin gave up his seat and returned to London, where his wife and children were awaiting him. Since then he has divided his time between London and Cairo, where he is deputy editor of an independent Libyan newspaper. Now he is pinning his hopes on new elections, the creation of a new constitution and a new movement of Libyans who want a violence-free, democratic country. That can happen, he believes, with economic support from the West and an end to wealthy Qatar’s support for extremist militias that are working against democracy and civil society. While some criticize western countries for their military intervention against Gadhafi, Amin says their biggest error was to do too little for the rebuilding process after the war. “I’ll never give up on Libya,” he says. “I still believe that good people are in the majority.”
Posted on: Thu, 14 Nov 2013 03:17:11 +0000
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