Two US citizens are moving forward with a lawsuit against the Libyan government, claiming that the authorities tortured them during a four month prison sentence they completed in the Arab state in 1980. Both men are demanding $20 million each in compensation.
Employed by a Libyan firm, the claimants, Roger Frey and Michael Price, were arrested and charged with ‘anti-revolutionary propaganda’ for taking pictures in the Tripoli region. Incarcerated for 105 days, the two men allege that they were forced to watch as other inmates were beaten, then threatened with the same treatment unless they confessed to being undercover agents, reported AP. After their trial and subsequent acquittal, they were given permission to leave Libya.
A US Federal judge ruled this week that Frey and Price could carry out their case, which they originally submitted in 1997. In 2002, a federal appeals court concluded that their complaint was not substantial enough to be considered a hostage case, however, the men were given the opportunity to modify their argument to prove that they were tortured. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
