Within the frame of the Center’s follow up of the 24 Egyptian citizens’ case in Libya, who are facing execution penalty issued by the Libyan judiciary, the Center addressed its second call to the Libyan President in order to stop the execution of one of the Egyptian citizens who is waiting for his execution tomorrow on Sunday May 28, 2007, his name is Emad Abd El-Wahed Mohamed Ali.

The center noted in its letter to what the Libyan President issued last year, when he issued directions related to the abolition of death penalty in Libya, and the Libyan Judiciary Council’s approval on these directions.

Worth mentioning that the Center called up on the Libyan President to the execution of the up mentioned citizen, in order to complete the conciliation procedures with the victims’ families, specially that some civil society institutions in Egypt and Libya have proceed taken the needed conciliation procedures.

In the view of the fact that the Libyan Government is tending to abolish the death penalty, the Center hopes that those convicted Egyptian persons should benefit from this tendency, which will put Libya in the level of the developed countries that abolish death penalty, as it is one of the cruel penalties. The Center hopes that the Libyan President would response to these calls to stop the death penalty against 24 Egyptian citizens, in addition it hopes that the Egyptian Ministry of foreign affairs should intensify its efforts to protect Egyptian’s right of life out side Egypt.

The crisis involving 24 Egyptian nationals sentenced to death in Libya in September 2006 is still ongoing, and continues to receive insufficient attention from the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: twelve Egyptians sentenced to death will be executed over the course of the coming week in the absence of effective intervention by the Ministry. The twelve men are:

Seven of those sentenced to death were convicted of committing crimes against other Egyptian nationals in Libya. The Egyptian government agreed to their being sent to Egypt, but the Egyptian embassy in Libya did not offer any form of cooperation in order to conclude this procedure – despite the fact that Libyan civil society groups demonstrated a clear willingness to solve this crisis by paying compensation on behalf of the men to the relatives of the victims. Implementation of the death sentences was stopped, in accordance with Libyan law. They were also prepared that the men be sent to Egypt, and sent letters to the Egyptian embassy in Libya in order that the Libyan and Egyptian governments liaise on the matter. The embassy provided gave no response, and embassy officials have still not carried out an official visit to those sentenced to death.

Relatives of the convicted men say that a meeting was held between the Egyptians sentenced to death and the director of the Libyan General Directorate of the Judicial Police who seemed prepared to deport the convicted men. He sent a letter to this effect to the Egyptian embassy in Libya, which resolutely pursued its policy of giving no response.

Those sentenced to death sent a letter to the Egyptian ambassador urging him to intervene and appoint a liaison person to represent the Egyptian embassy in Libya responsible for carrying out deportation procedures in coordination with Libyan officials. However, according to the complainants, the Egyptian government did not respond to this letter.

The Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession (ACIJLP)  urges Libyan civil society organisations to pursue their lobbying and expend all efforts in order to halt the implementation of the death sentences.

ACIJLP holds the Ministry of Foreign Affairs responsible for intervening with the Libyan government in order to stop the implementation of these death sentences. It must intervene immediately in order to bring about a reconciliation between relatives of the victims and the convicted men and act swiftly and without delay in order to stop the implementation of the death sentences. Their action is particularly warranted in view of Libyan civil society support for this case.

ACIJLP urges His Excellency the Libyan President and His Excellency the Egyptian President to personally intervene in order to stop the implementation of these sentences until reconciliation attempts – which require time – have been carried out.