Kudos to you for publishing the harrowing story of the abused domestics of Hannibal Gaddafi. (http:// www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=74600 )

It was shocking to learn that in reprisal for their complaints to Geneva police, the mother of the Moroccan servant was subjected to imprisonment, rape and the removal of her teeth by the Gaddafi regime.

How can the international community – including Western democracies, Italy being only the latest – continue to court a regime that commits such atrocities?

How can Dom Mintoff, the former Maltese Prime Minister, accept last month’s award of the “Muammar Gaddafi Human Rights Prize”?

Those who collaborate with the Orwellian distortions of a violator regime, or respond to its violations with increased oil and weapons deals, only reassure the Gaddafis of this world that their gross abuses of human rights will be met with impunity.

Hillel Neuer

Executive Director

United Nations Watch

GENEVA

SWITZERLAND

www.unwatch.org