P 171259Z JUN 09
FM AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI
TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4928
INFO AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 
AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 
AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 
AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 
AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 
AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 
NSC WASHINGTON DC
AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI

UNCLAS TRIPOLI 000483 
 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/MAG (NARDI, JOHNSON) AND DRL/NESCA (JOHNSTONE) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL LY
SUBJECT: QADHAFI DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION CONFIRMS RELEASE OF POLITICAL 
PRISONER MUHAMMAD BOUSIDRA 
 
REF: 08 TRIPOLI 993 
 
¶1. (C) Saleh Abdulsalam Saleh, Chairman of the Qadhafi 
Development Foundation's (QDF) Human Rights Committee, confirmed 
to us that longtime political prisoner Dr. Muhammad Bousidra was 
released on June 14 and had returned to his family home in 
Benghazi.  Opposition website Libya al-Youm reported on June 8 
that Bousidra had been released; however, Saleh said the 
organization had misinterpreted his conversation with them and 
that Bousidra had not yet been released at that time.  The 
premature announcement by Libya al-Youm had then prompted Libyan 
security officials - who had been unaware that he was to be set 
free - to balk, delaying his release until the QDF could secure 
the necessary permissions. 
 
¶2. (C) According to opposition websites, Bousidra was a 
religious cleric and political activist who was arrested in 
January 1989 and held for over ten years without being charged. 
He is described as having been the longest-serving, living 
political prisoner in Libyan custody.  Bousidra was hastily 
tried in late 1999/early 2000 by a specially-convened "People's 
Court"on charges that he had sought to undermine the al-Fatah 
revolution and was sentenced to life imprisonment.  He was 
re-tried in 2005 and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on the 
original charges, which dated to actions in 1988.  He had 
already served 17 years in prison at the time of the re-trial 
and it was argued he should be released; however, Saleh said the 
Internal Security Organization (ISO) had refused to let him go. 
 
¶3. (C) Saleh said the QDF, which is chaired by Saif al-Islam 
al-Qadhafi, recently brokered Bousidra's release as part of a 
broader program of dialogue with former religious extremists, 
which has led to the release of some former members of the 
Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (reftel and previous).  He said 
Bousidra had been provided with financial compensation, allowed 
to return to his home and would be assisted in trying to find a 
job and "regain his life".  Saleh was evasive on the question of 
whether Bousidra remained under house arrest.  In a formulation 
we've heard before in connection with the case of Fathi 
el-Jahmi, he conceded that Libyan security officers were posted 
at Bousidra's house, ostensibly to protect him from irate 
citizens and conservative regime elements who might otherwise 
seek to do him harm in retaliation for his alleged activities to 
topple al-Qadhafi's regime. 
 
CRETZ