On Saturday, Libyan Public Prosecutor, Al-Siddiq Al-Sour, announced that several members of the Tanweer Movement, a Tripoli-based civil society organisation, have been charged with “spreading atheism.”
In a statement, the Public Prosecutor’s Office said that the charges come after a series of confessions made by the movement’s members, which the Internal Security Agency (ISA) recorded and posted on social media.
“The process of questioning the defendants resulted in their acknowledgment of the fact that they are advocates of atheism who deny the existence of the Creator,” the statement added.
“They deliberately insulted the Islamic religion and mocked its legal rulings so they can spread their ideas,” it claimed. “The Public Prosecution concluded its investigation after the defendants repented of the act of apostasy.”
The Attorney-General’s Office pointed out that the ISA will continue to detain the movement’s members ahead of putting them on trail.
The United Nations (UN) and Amnesty International have condemned the Libyan authorities’ crackdown on the Tanweer Movement, saying that the “confessions” made by its members were obtained by “coercion.”
Last week, Amnesty International condemned the Libyan authorities’ crackdown on a number of civil society organisations, specifically the Tripoli-based Tanweer Movement.
This comes after the ISA recorded, and publicly posted on social media, a series of videos showing the movement’s members’ “confessions” of “promoting atheism” in Libya, according to the ISA’s allegations.
“The ISA arrested seven young men between November 2021 and March 2022,” Amnesty International explained in a statement on Wednesday.
“Following their arrest, they were detained in the ISA’s Tripoli headquarters before being transferred to either Al-Jadida prison or the Mitiga prison. The latter of which is run by the Deterrence Apparatus for Combating Organized Crime and Terrorism — a militia notorious for its involvement in prolonged arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance and torture with total impunity,” said Amnesty International.
“The men were forced to “confess” under coercive circumstances without the presence of lawyers,” added Amnesty International.
Echoing Amnesty International’s remarks, the UN said it “received allegations that these confessions were obtained by coercion, raising serious concerns regarding the use of torture, which is absolutely prohibited.”
“These confessions also implicate several other men and women, many of whom have now gone into hiding after receiving death threats,” the UN said in a statement on Friday.
Both Amnesty International and the UN have called on the Libyan authorities to stop targeting Libyans and uphold their right to freedom of expression. They also called on the authorities to investigate the alleged human rights violations committed by the ISA.
The Tanweer Movement, a Tripoli-based civil society organization, was co-founded in 2013 by the Libyan author Ahmed Elbukhari, who also has been serving as its Chairman since 2015, according to Elbukhari’s website.