Suffering Amid Libya's Growing Human Disaster

Ahmed Ali, set alight during an apparent racist attack near his home, had been held in a Tripoli jail without access to treatment
A Farm Weekly Report

BEHIND 2.4-metre iron gates, along a sandy path and up concrete stairs, there is a glimpse into the humanitarian disaster that is unfolding in newly liberated Libya.

About 300 prisoners, some crowded into cells housing 26 men at once, are being held in Maftuh Jail in Fernaj, a district of Tripoli.

According to the police officer who took over the prison from rebel soldiers on Tuesday, the men were swept up in the rebels' August 20 push to take Tripoli. Most are accused of being mercenaries fighting for Muammar Gaddafi. Most deny the allegations.

After 11 searingly hot days held in unsanitary, overcrowded cells with no running water, the men were desperate for help. They asked for doctors, lawyers and humanitarian workers to come to the prison.

But further down the corridor, we found two young men in an even more desperate situation. His face burnt, peeling and blistered, 28-year-old Ahmed Ali from Nigeria was in need of urgent medical help.

''Nine days ago, some youth near my house got angry - they came to my place and they poured fuel on me,'' he said, bracing himself against a wave of pain.

They set him on fire in an apparent racist attack that has become increasingly common in a country harbouring so much anger against Gaddafi and his mercenaries. Anyone with dark skin - regardless of their loyalties - can find themselves a target. Ahmed has been held here without any medical care - directly across the road from one of Tripoli's largest hospitals.

Another young man in his cell, Mustafa, from Nigers, held up a badly bandaged left hand. Three of his fingers had been blown off by a bullet. He had received no medical care for his injuries.

When confronted about these two prisoners, the officer in charge, Anwar Bin Naji, told The Age: ''The whole of Tripoli is in a difficult situation - the entire system has broken down. Come back in four days, you will find a very different place.''

But why not call a doctor from Tripoli General Hospital, not 500 metres away? ''There are not enough doctors in Tripoli - they have been working around the clock for days,'' he replied.

After some convincing, he pulled his phone out and called the hospital. And he agreed that if The Age could get a doctor to the prison, he would let them in. We contacted Salama Agni, a general surgeon from the hospital, who arrived 20 minutes later. The two badly injured prisoners were brought to the jail's clinic for treatment.

''This man needs to go to a burns hospital,'' Dr Agni said. ''His burns need to be hydrated, and he needs intravenous antibiotics.''

As the doctor smoothed salve onto the wounds on his face, neck and knee, Ahmed explained he had been in Libya for two years, and worked in interior design after doing an architecture course in Nigeria. ''I am not a fighter,'' he said. ''I don't even own a knife.''

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have been warning of mounting evidence of human rights abuses against dark-skinned Libyans and sub-Saharan Africans ''who have frequently been accused of serving Gaddafi as foreign mercenaries''.

They have urged the de facto government in Libya to treat all detainees in accordance with international human rights and humanitarian law standards, including prompt review before an independent judicial panel and immediate access for the International Committee of the Red Cross to all detainees in Transitional National Council custody.