Libya | Inside Tripoli Zoo’s prison for illegal immigrants Tripoli zoo is being used to hold foreigners found working illegally and picked up by a unit of the capital’s illegal immigration department. The zoo, closed to the public although still home to several hundred animals, now also houses the operations room of a group of 43 brigades working under Commander Said Gars Alaha. One of these brigades is tasked with checking the health and paperwork of immigrant workers, establishing who has the right to work in the country. Libya has a poor reputation for detention conditions for refugees and migrants, described as “deplorable” in a recent Amnesty International report. However, both Alaha and the head of the illegal immigration unit based at the zoo, Abdul Razag Al-Gerjame, are keen to point out that they respect the human rights of those they arrest. “We cannot return these people to their countries because they have refugee status,” Al-Gerjame said, “so we have to keep them here in Libya.” Workers from Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia also cannot be sent home. “This is Libya’s biggest problem,” Al-Gerjame said, “and we have asked the United Nations for help but nobody has any answers.” libyaherald/2013/08/26/inside-tripoli-zoos-prison-for-illegal-immigrants/
Posted on: Tue, 27 Aug 2013 16:53:47 +0000