Libya detains Gaddafi critic

NEW YORK – Libya detained an outspoken critic of the country’s leader Muammar Gaddafi a month ago and he had not been heard from since, said the United States-based Human Rights Watch on Monday.

The group said that Libya’s internal security agency detained Idrees Mohamed Boufayed, a doctor who had lived in exile in the Switzerland for the past 16 years, in Tripoli on November 05. Human Rights Watch requested information on Boufayed’s detention from the Libyan government on November 20, but said it had not received a reply.A spokesperson for Libya’s mission to the United Nations was not immediately available for comment.Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said: “We urge the Libyan government to release Dr Boufayed immediately.It appears they’ve locked him up for expressing views they don’t like.”Human Rights Watch said Boufayed returned to Libya for a visit on September 30 and that security agents took his passport at the airport.Boufayed later travelled to his family home about 120km south of Tripoli, where he continued posting articles on Libyan opposition websites, denouncing Gaddafi and calling for peaceful political change.He disappeared after the Internal Security Agency told him to report to its Tripoli office.Whitson said: “Libya may be opening to the world, but the government is still locking up its critics.”Nampa-ReutersHuman Rights Watch requested information on Boufayed’s detention from the Libyan government on November 20, but said it had not received a reply.A spokesperson for Libya’s mission to the United Nations was not immediately available for comment.Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said: “We urge the Libyan government to release Dr Boufayed immediately.It appears they’ve locked him up for expressing views they don’t like.”Human Rights Watch said Boufayed returned to Libya for a visit on September 30 and that security agents took his passport at the airport.Boufayed later travelled to his family home about 120km south of Tripoli, where he continued posting articles on Libyan opposition websites, denouncing Gaddafi and calling for peaceful political change.He disappeared after the Internal Security Agency told him to report to its Tripoli office.Whitson said: “Libya may be opening to the world, but the government is still locking up its critics.”Nampa-Reuters