Document #1199873
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
1.The Green Book is Muammar Qaddafi's
outline for the social and economic revolution of the Libyan
Jamahiriyat (state of the masses). The book has three parts: part
one is entitled 'The Solution of the Problem of Democracy `The
Authority of the People'"; part two is "The Solution of the
Economic Problem `Socialism'"; and part three is "The Social Basis
of the Third Universal Theory". In its own words, the "Green Book
presents the final solution to the problem of the instrument of
governing". [ Muammar Al Qathafi, The Green Book, Ottawa: Jerusalem
International Publishing House Inc., p. 5.] The essence of the
Green Book is perhaps, Mr. Qaddafi's vision of democratic
government by the people without the barrier of political
structures and politicians. An analogy to the Green Book, is Mao's
Red Book, or, in the words of The Middle East magazine, "the bible
of the revolution". [ "Gaddafi Stays the Course", The Middle East,
March 1989, p. 6.] The Green Book is available in most libraries,
and there should be a location in Montreal.
The Libyan General People's Congress (GPC)
adopted the "Great Green Document on Human Rights in the Era of the
Masses" on 12 June 1988, signalling an improvement in human rights
conditions in Libya. [ Amnesty International, Amnesty International
Welcomes Latest Moves to Improve Human Rights in Libya, 20 June
1988.] On 10 March 1988, the General People's Congress of Libya
announced a number of reforms, including: allowing Libyans the
freedom to travel and live abroad, the release of political
prisoners, the abolition of the Revolutionary Courts, and a
guarantee for human rights. ["Gaddafi Stays the Course," The Middle
East, No. 173, March 1989, p.6.] In September 1988, Qaddafi
condemned the Revolutionary Courts for the "imprisonment, torture,
and murder of innocent people". [ Ibid., p.7.] Libyan exiles from
abroad have been encouraged to return home, though political
opponents were being executed as late as February 1988. [ US
Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for
1988, (Washington: US Government Printing Office, 1989), p.1419.]
Political opponents of Qaddafi are "theoretically" protected when
they return to Libya, "so long as they are prepared to repent," but
this policy is viewed by some critics of the Qaddafi regime as an
obligation or threat, not a right. [ U.S. Department of State,
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1988, p. 1423.]
Although some sources maintain that there are no particular
sanctions against returnees, [ External Affairs, 12 March 1989.]
there is evidence that students who returned to Libya as late as
1987 were subjected to interrogation by the authorities. [ Amnesty
International, "Libya: Summary of Amnesty International's Prisoner
Concerns", Amnesty International, MDE 19/05/87, 26 October
1987.]
2.Qaddafi's version of Islam is not
strictly according to more fundamentalist interpretations of the
Koran. [ John Davis, Libyan Politics: Tribe and Revolution,
(London: I.B. Tauris & co. Ltd., 1987), p. 44.] For example,
although Islamic legislature has been enacted, it is not
interpreted as strictly as in some other Islamic societies (e.g.
Iran). The Libyan version of Koranic family law provides greater
rights and protection to women, and a woman's testimony in a court
of law is equal to that of a man's [ Davis, p. 45.] (unlike other
Islamic nations such as Pakistan, which follow Islamic rules which
suggest that the testimony of two women equals that of one man).
Qaddafi's application of Islam to political and social life in
Libya is not in accordance with more fundamentalist interpretations
of the Koran, and he is, therefore, "at loggerheads with other
fundamentalists" by "abandoning the accumulated body of established
interpretation". [ Davis, p.255.]
The Sanusiyya (Islamic) sponsored Islamic
University was merged with the University of Libya when the regime
banned the Sanusiyya religious following, and in 1986, all Koranic
schools were closed -- allegedly to reduce the influence of the
mosques and to integrate all children into the public system. [U.S.
Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for
1987, p. 1235.]
Information regarding the penalties or
restrictions someone teaching the Koran would face is not currently
available to the IRBDC.
For a discussion of the linkage of Islam to
Qaddafi's revolution in Libya, please refer to the attached pages
from John Davis, Libyan Politics: Tribe and Revolution, London:
I.B. Tauris & co. Ltd., 1987.