Kosovo Flash #44

Kosovar Albanian Journalist Beaten But Safe

A Kosovar Albanian journalist reported arrested last week has turned up in Albania, beaten but safe, Human Rights Watch has confirmed.

Mr. Cerkin Ibishi, a long-time journalist, was reported missing last week by his newspaper, Rilindja. A May 28 letter from the paper's office in Switzerland said that Ibishi was being held in Smerkovnica prison near Mitrovica.

Mr. Ibishi arrived in Albania on May 30. He had been arrested near Mitrovica in the first week of May and then spent time in two different prisons. A journalist who spoke with Mr. Ibishi in Albania told Human Rights Watch that he had been beaten while in detention.

Hundreds of other men have been released from Smerkovnica prison over the past ten days and entered Albania -- many of them showing physical signs of abuse and torture (see HRW Flash #41).

Source: Human Rights Watch


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