SOFIA, Dec 13, 2007 (AFP) - The Palestinian-born doctor held with five Bulgarian nurses in a Libyan prison for over eight years said Thursday that he was suing Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi for torture.
Ashraf Juma Hajuj told AFP that his lawyer Francois Cantier, of the pro bono organisation Lawyers Without Borders, had filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Paris against Kadhafi, five police officers and a doctor, accusing them of torture.
"France should arrest that dictator," he said.
The Libyan leader arrived Monday on a five-day official visit to Paris, during which he met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, sparking fierce criticism from human rights groups.
Sarkozy and former first lady Cecilia Sarkozy were seen to play a crucial part in securing the release in late July of Hajuj and five Bulgarian nurses, who had been sentenced to death and had spent over eight years in a Libyan jail for allegedly infecting over 400 Libyan children with AIDS.
The six medics, who always maintained their innocence, said they were subjected to torture, including beatings, electric shocks, food and sleep deprivation, and even sexual abuse, in order to confess to their alleged crime.
"It is not a matter of revenge. I need justice. They must pay for what they did," Hajuj told AFP.
His lawyer filed the suit based on France's adherence to a 1984 international convention that allows any country to carry out legal action against suspected torturers who come to France.
But as a ruling head of state, Kadhafi is entitled to immunity from prosecution.
France's highest court of appeal already confirmed his immunity in March 2001, when it ruled out legal action against him in a lawsuit over the 1989 bombing of a French passenger jet over the African desert that killed 170 people.
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