The West Must Hold Libya Accountable on Human Rights

Natan Sharansky writes about Libyan dissident Fathi Eljahmi, who died last week after seven years of brutal imprisonment. The West has looked the other way on Libya’s human rights abuses, Sharansky argues, in order to gain the regime’s cooperation on terrorism and proliferation. But it takes concerted international pressure to force regimes to release political prisoners. And when countries intervene in these cases, they bolster the cause of human rights more broadly. “When such dissidents enjoy overwhelming public support from the free world, when international pressure results in their release from custody or when their deaths spark international outrage and sanctions, a powerful signal is sent to others suffering under the regime that they are not alone, that the world outside stands strong in the cause of their freedom.”

The Source