VZCZCXRO2636
OO RUEHTRO
DE RUEHTRO #0047/01 0221547
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O P 221547Z JAN 09
FM AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4347
INFO RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 1380
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 0736
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 0868
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 0811
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 0984
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 0671
RUEHTRO/AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI 4871

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TRIPOLI 000047 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/MAG (JOHNSON, NARDI) AND DRL/NESCA (KWIRAM, 
JOHNSTONE) 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  1/22/2019 
TAGS: PREL PHUM PGOV LY
SUBJECT: FATHI EL-JAHMI AND FAMILY DECIDE HE SHOULD TRAVEL TO SWITZERLAND FOR MEDICAL TREATMENT  

REF: 
A) 08 TRIPOLI 960, 
B) 08 TRIPOLI 969  

CLASSIFIED BY: Gene A. Cretz, Ambassador, U.S. Embassy - Tripoli, U.S. Dept of State. REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 

¶1. (C) Summary: Detained human rights activist Fathi el-Jahmi and his family have decided that they would like him to travel to Switzerland for medical treatment.  The Qadhafi Development Foundation (QDF) would pay for el-Jahmi's travel and medical expenses.  The family needs to orchestrate several decisions to facilitate the travel: 
1) reach agreement with el-Jahmi's treating physician in Libya that he is medically fit to be discharged and travel (likely the hardest part); 
2) identify the Swiss medical facility at which el-Jahmi wishes to be treated, and; 
3) identify which el-Jahmi family members would accompany him on the trip.  Representatives from the QDF, el-Jahmi's family and the Embassy are to meet next week to discuss next steps.  End summary.  

¶2. (C) Following up on our meeting with detained human rights activist Fathi el-Jahmi in December (reftel), P/E Chief met on January 22 with Saleh Abdulsalam Saleh, Director of the Human Rights Committee of the Qadhafi Development Foundation (QDF). Saleh said he had met with Muhammad el-Jahmi, Fathi el-Jahmi's eldest son, on/about December 23 and early in January to discuss the case, and had been in regular contact with him by telephone.  According to Saleh, el-Jahmi and his family had decided that el-Jahmi should travel to Switzerland for medical treatment. (Note: The other options were to remain at his family home in Tripoli and pursue outpatient care, or to transfer from the Tripoli Medical Center (TMC) to a private clinic in Libya.  End note.)  Saleh said el-Jahmi's wife, Fawzia, and several of his daughters had traveled to Tripoli from the family's home in Benghazi shortly after New Year's, and had been able to visit el-Jahmi daily at the TMC.  

¶3. (C) Saleh identified several decisions that Muhammad needed to orchestrate to facilitate the proposed medical travel. First, Muhammad needed to reach agreement with el-Jahmi's treating physician, Dr. Abdulrahman Mehdy, that el-Jahmi was medically fit to be discharged from the TMC and to travel. (xxxxxxxxxxxx)  In our meeting on December 13, Dr. Mehdy told us three things needed to happen before el-Jahmi could be discharged: his blood sugar levels should be stabilized; the vascular issues in his legs needed to be analyzed; and, he needed consultations with neuromedical specialists regarding the pain in his extremities.  Saleh told us on January 22 that el-Jahmi's vascular issues had been analyzed and that he was receiving treatment for the pain in his legs.  His understanding was that el-Jahmi's cardiac condition was satisfactory, but he had no information about el-Jahmi's blood sugar levels.  

¶4. (C) Saleh said the family also needed to decide which Swiss medical facility they wanted el-Jahmi to be treated at, and which family members would accompany him.  As in the case of recently released regime critic Dr. Idriss Boufayed, who also traveled to Switzerland for treatment of his cancer (ref B), the QDF intends to underwrite el-Jahmi's travel and medical expenses.  Saleh said it was currently anticipated that Muhammad el-Jahmi and his mother, Fawzia, would accompany el-Jahmi on his medical travel.  Saleh said several of el-Jahmi's daughters were also considering whether to go, but had not yet decided. (Comment: An issue for the daughters is that their husbands and children would not likely be permitted to travel, theoretically ensuring their return to Libya and also ensuring that al-Jahmi would not be so outspoken if he were able to leave.  End comment.).  Muhammad el-Jahmi's passport has expired and would need to be renewed; it is not clear whether other potential travel companions from the family have valid travel documents. Saleh said the QDF would facilitate issuance of passports and travel permissions to family members accompanying el-Jahmi to Switzerland.  

¶5. (C) Saleh is to meet again next week with Muhammad el-Jahmi to discuss el-Jahmi's medical condition, the Swiss hospital at which the family wishes el-Jahmi to be treated and to determine who will travel.  P/E Chief proposed that he join the meeting, as agreed in our earlier exchange on December 13.  Saleh agreed and said he would call after he had scheduled the meeting with Muhammad.   TRIPOLI 00000047  002 OF 002   

¶6. (C) Comment: In light of the ongoing Libyan-Swiss contretemps occasioned by the arrest of Hannibal al-Qadhafi, son of Muammar al-Qadhafi, in Geneva last July, it is ironic that Switzerland has apparently become the preferred venue for medical treatment of ailing Libyan political prisoners.  Whether the TMC agrees to actually discharge el-Jahmi will be the critical litmus test as to the regime's real intention to let el-Jahmi go.  We noted that the case had already drug on for far longer than it should have and underscored that the GOL would be serving its own best interests if it quickly made good on the promise to facilitate el-Jahmi's travel for treatment.  Saleh took our points on board and gave assurances that he was personally handling the case and would be in touch.  Saleh and the QDF continue to characterize Muhammad el-Jahmi as being diffident about his father's case and to blame him for the slow progress in the case; xxxxxxxxxxxx End comment. 
CRETZ