Gaddafi charity says Libya dissident gets care

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - A leading Libyan dissident said by a human rights group to be in urgent need of medical care is receiving treatment and his health is improving, a charity headed by a son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi said.

In January New York-based Human Rights Watch urged Libya to free 66-year-old Fathi al-Jahmi, saying he urgently needed medical care after almost four years in detention without trial.

Human Rights Watch said people who had seen Jahmi in detention had said his skin was discolored, he had lost weight and his legs were swollen. He was too weak to speak.

The Gaddafi International Foundation, chaired by Saif al-Islam, said in a statement its members had visited Jahmi at a medical facility called Tripoli Medical Center.

"Physicians overseeing his treatment have confirmed that he is taking comprehensive medical check-ups, and that his health situation is improving steadily," the statement dated February 24 said. "Aljahmi, in his turn, expressed his feeling that his health is improving."

The foundation said it had arranged visits to Jahmi by members of his family and had proposed Jahmi return home "so that his family takes care of him, but the family has not presented any positive reply so far."

A former provincial governor, Jahmi was first arrested in 2002 after he criticized Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and called for elections, a free press and the release of political prisoners. A court sentenced him to five years in prison.

On March 1, 2004, U.S. Senator Joseph Biden met Gaddafi and called for Jahmi's release. Nine days later, an appeals court gave Jahmi a suspended sentence of one year and ordered his release on March 12.

Later in March Jahmi was arrested again after he gave more interviews repeating his criticisms and was charged with trying to overthrow the government, insulting Gaddafi and contacting foreign authorities.

Libyan authorities have said Jahmi is being held for his own protection and because he is "mentally disturbed."

Libya, once shunned by the West, was elected last year to a two-year term on the U.N. Security Council.

The country improved its standing in 2003 by accepting civil responsibility for the 1988 Lockerbie airliner bombing over Scotland which killed 270 people.

Last year it deepened a rapprochement with the West by sending home, under an accord with the European Union, six foreign medics convicted of infecting Libyan children with HIV.

(Writing by William Maclean, editing by Tim Pearce)