The 300-plus inmates at the notorious Tajura prison, 10 miles east of Tripoli, were relieved when they woke up one late-March morning to find the prison guards had been replaced. They were no longer bearded-men in civilian clothes, but the Libyan police in regular, official police uniforms. The interim government had finally managed to gain control of the notorious prison, in which some five different nationalities are being held without trial. Among them is my long-time friend and colleague from a university in Tripoli. He, just like many others, was picked up by armed militias in and around the Libyan capital. He is a university professor who was kidnapped from the busy shopping district, Gargarish last March.

Some inmates have been in the prison since October 2011 without trial, or charges. The change of guard should have brought, not only relief but, immediate freedom and the opportunity for the prisoners to have their day in the court of law, which is ironically still absent in Libya. 

Unfortunately the inmates’ relief was short-lived. Three months after the interim government took over the illegal prison, no one has been charged nor released. Through a smuggled mobile phone, my friend managed to call me last week. I joyfully expecting him to tell me that he is finally free. I was disappointed when he said that he is still in jail and has yet to see a judge even though the he was promised in March. 

I asked him how could he be tried, since the arrest was illegal, and the accusations against him baseless? Why should the government take over the prison and keep everybody locked up while the basic legal procedure in jailing those people is illegal and the presumed case against them will be thrown out by any respected judge?