Amnesty International calls for freeing of 11 Christians

Amnesty International this week called for the annulment of the convictions of 11 Christians in Libya sentenced to prison under charges ranging from “insulting Islam” to calling for changes in principles of the constitution by promoting Christianity.

The trials of the 10 Libyan nationals and one Pakistani man were grossly unfair, marred by egregious violations of due process and international human rights standards, the rights watchdog asserted in a press statement on Tuesday.

“Throughout the sessions of the trial, which started in September 2024, judges never examined witnesses or evidence against the defendants,” Amnesty stated. “They also never questioned any members of the ISA [Internal Security Agency], whose investigations were the only basis for the criminal investigations into the defendants. The hearings were limited to judges confirming the presence of the defendants and their lawyers requesting their release pending trial.”

The judges consistently ordered continued detention of the defendants without providing any justification and adjourned the hearings, Amnesty noted.

A Tripoli court on April 15 sentenced the nine Libyan men, one Libyan woman and one Pakistani man to prison terms ranging from three to 15 years on charges of “insulting Islam,” “insulting religious sanctities and rituals using the internet,” “calling for the establishment of a banned group” and “promoting the change of the fundamental principles of the constitution.”

The Christians were arrested by the notorious Tripoli-based ISA in March 2023 on allegations that they were involved in proselytizing Libyan Muslims. Among those arrested were two U.S. men who were released after two to three days without being charged, Amnesty stated.

An Amnesty investigation found that the Christians were subjected to torture, arbitrary detention for days, questioning in the absence of their lawyers and were denied access to their families; the group also found they were compelled to give forced confessions.

“Between 6 and 13 April 2023, the ISA published on its official YouTube channel videos of showing seven of the detainees, where they confessed to ‘converting to and promoting Christianity inside the country,’ contrary to their right to the presumption of innocence,” Amnesty stated. “In all but one, the ISA published the videos around one to seven days after prosecutors questioned the detainees. ISA published the seventh video on the same day that the prosecutor questioned the detainee.”

The two U.S. men who were later released also appeared in one of the forced confessions videos, Amnesty noted.

Amnesty documented violations of the right to fair trial during the pretrial phase through denial of the right to an attorney, denial of access to case files, reliance on forced confessions and questioning defendants on unfounded charges related to the exercise of their rights.

“Prosecutors denied all defendants but one the right to have a lawyer of their choice during the initial questioning,” Amnesty stated. “Prosecutors also failed to assign lawyers to represent the defendants, instead conducting the questioning without the presence of any lawyers. Until prosecutors referred the case to trial, they denied lawyers and defendants access to the ISA reports or the prosecution reports claiming that this is a ‘national security’ case.”

The detainees were also accused of “joining a banned group that aims to change the fundamental principles of the state or constitutions or promoting acts against the state fundamental principles” without clarifying what these principles were, it added.

The public prosecutor’s indictment, issued on Jan. 1, 2024, dismissed the apostasy charge against the 11 defendants “due to the lack of punishment.” The indictment explained that “the apostasy penalty — death as prescribed in Article 291 of the Penal Code — was dropped following the defendants’ declaration of repentance.”

“The public prosecutor’s indictment claimed that the Pakistani man came to Libya with the purpose of ‘establishing a banned group’ and ‘promoting principles aiming to change the fundamental principles of the constitution,’” Amnesty stated. “However, the Pakistani man had actually arrived in Libya with his family in 1992 at the age of 10.”

The Public Prosecutor’s indictment also found that the crime of joining a banned group aiming to change the fundamental principles of the state or constitution invalid for all defendants except the Pakistani, concluding the alleged acts did not constitute the material elements of that crime, Amnesty stated.

“Nevertheless, the Public Prosecutor indicted the Pakistani man, along with ‘unknown defendants’ for ‘calling for the establishment of a banned group promoting Christianity’ and ‘promoting principles aiming to change the fundamental constitutional principles by promoting Christianity,’ despite that the indictment concluded that promoting Christianity is not a crime under Libyan law.”

The indictment read, “By reviewing the penal provisions of the Penal Code and the amended and complementary laws, there is no article that prohibits calling for other religions or punishes it,” Amnesty noted.

The group highlighted that under international law, everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This includes the right to change their religion or belief, and the freedom, alone or with others, in public or in private, to express their religion or belief through teaching, practice, worship, and observance.

The public prosecutor decided to indict the 10 Libyan detainees for allegedly “insulting Islam” and “insulting religious sanctities and rituals using the internet,” Amnesty stated, adding that the public prosecutor, investigating prosecutors and ISA failed to present any evidence that any of them insulted Islam.

Amnesty pointed out that the judges sentenced the 11 Christians without them attending the sentencing.

“In the session prior to the sentencing, lawyers began presenting their defense, but after a while judges interrupted them, asking them to stop since their defense will be presented in writing,” the group stated.

During initial questioning between March and August 2023, prosecutors accused defendants of apostasy and “promoting the ideology of Christianity inside Libya,” though Amnesty asserted that the latter does not constitute a crime under Libyan law and that the status of apostasy in the country is disputed.

“In February 2016, Libya’s then-legislative body, the General National Congress, passed a law criminalizing apostasy and imposing the death penalty, with an exemption for those who repented,” the rights group stated. “Although the House of Representatives annulled this and other post-mandate laws in 2020, authorities in western Libya have disregarded that decision and continue to enforce the apostasy law.”

Amnesty urged the Libyan public prosecutor to immediately review all cases of people detained for criminal prosecutions stemming solely from investigations carried out by the ISA.

“He must open prompt, thorough, independent, impartial, transparent, and effective investigations into the allegations of human rights violations including torture, enforced disappearance, and arbitrary detention against all suspected ISA members,” the statement concluded. “Libyan authorities should immediately quash the convictions and sentences of those imprisoned solely for the peaceful exercise of their human rights.”

Amnesty spoke to four people who have close relationships with those convicted and a legal source who is well-informed about the trial. The organization reviewed videos published by ISA in which seven convicts appeared “confessing.” The organization also reviewed all official documents related to the case, including ISA investigations reports, prosecution reports, the indictment and court files.

Family Suffering

The wife of one of the Christians, unnamed for security reasons, said her husband was given access to a lawyer for the first time in September 2023, five months after his arbitrary arrest was announced.

“My husband told the lawyer how his interrogators had tortured him, both physically and emotionally, since the time he was taken into custody,” she told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News from a country where she and her daughter have taken refuge. “The lawyer was informed of the charges against him when the legal proceedings commenced in the Indictment Chamber in Tripoli in January 2024.”

Her voice breaking, she told how she and her daughter have suffered since his arrest.

“We have hoped for a miracle every single day. The situation had reached a point where there was absolutely no information about him, and I was literally begging for proof of his life. I heard his voice on the phone for the first time after five months, on Aug. 8, 2023, and I can’t express how relieved I felt after that call.”

He was also able to make a call a few months before his sentencing and was able to talk with his daughter for the first time. Their daughter was a baby when her husband was arrested, she said.

“She’ll be turning 4 this year and recognizes her father from his photographs. It breaks my heart every time she asks me when he’ll come home,” she said. “I tell her that he will be back with her soon.”

Her daughter prays with her every day for him, she added.

“She has made plans that when he comes she’ll go learn skating with him, she’ll paint her nails,” she said. “She has so many wishes and plans she wants to do with her dad.”

The Christian was taken into custody by the ISA in March 2023 as he made his way home from work, nine days before Easter, she said.

“On the day of his arrest, he was driving back home when ISA agents stopped his car and took him into custody without showing any warrant or purpose for arresting him,” she said. “I began to worry when he did not receive my repeated phone calls and started contacting his friends and colleagues, who were also unaware of his whereabouts.”

She said that after a few hours, she received a call from her husband, who told her that he was in ISA’s custody, and that they would release him after questioning.

“He told me not to worry, but hours passed and he was not released,” she said. “Meanwhile, I started hearing news that ISA had arrested at least 11 other Christians, including some Libyans and foreigners.”

Libya has been torn by civil strife and competing governments since the fall of dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi in 2011. The country ranked fourth on Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.

This article was originally published by Christian Daily International–Morning Star News.