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Tripoli, 14 April . . .[restrict]2013:
The Libyan authorities must free Amara Hassan Al-Khatabi, editor of Al-Ummah daily and drop charges against him, says Human Rights Watch.
Al-Khatabi, who has been in detention since 19 December last year, is on trial on charges of defaming members of the judiciary. He has been on hunger strike since 28 February and on 4 April, with his health deteriorating was moved to hospital. His wife, Masara al-Ghussain has since also be refusing food.
In its November 21 edition, Al-Ummah published an article naming 87 judges, prosecutors and lawyers whom it accused accused of corruption and loyalty to Qaddafi, along with a preface stating that it had received the list from an unnamed source and was reprinting it as it was.
“Jailing journalists who accuse officials of corruption is a well-tested recipe for stifling free speech and political debate, whether or not the accusations have merit,” said Eric Goldstein, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch.
Libya must revise its laws to eliminate the offense of “insulting” officials and state institutions, and decriminalize defamation so that no one faces prison terms for that offense, HRW said. “Libya should free Khatabi and eliminate its laws that provide prison terms for nonviolent speech.”
At the beginning of last month, the Justice Minister, Salah Al-Marghani, called on the Attorney-General to release the editor on bail due to his frail health, also saying that journalists should face fines rather than prison for professional offences.
Marghani’s call was echoed on Friday by the Minister of Culture, Habib Mohammed Al-Amin, who said that the seizure and detention of writers and journalists should not be happening in the new Libya, and that the new constitution would guarantee freedom of expression and professional and trade union rights.
HRW pointed out that the authorities are prosecuting Khatabi under article 195 of the Qaddafi-era penal code, that stipulates, “any person who may launch what may be regarded as an attack against the Great Fateh Revolution or its leader shall be punishable by imprisonment …. The same penalty shall be levied against any person who insults the popular authority, a judicial, defence or security body”.
HRW said that it had been told by Ramadan Salem, Khatabi’s lawyer, that he had not been granted permission to visit his client, while he was detained in al-Hadhba prison, despite submitting three formal requests to the public attorney’s office.
At the most recent court session on 1 April, HRW noted that Khatabi sat in a wheelchair and that two guards had to help him to his feet when his case was called. “He remained silent throughout the proceedings, which his family attended.”??Khatabi’s lawyer had pleaded in vain for his client’s release, HRW said.
It also noted that the defence had argued in vain that Khatabi’s detention violated press law No. 76 from 1972, which stipulates that the ministers of media affairs and culture must approve in advance the arrest of a journalist. However, according to the lawyer, the public prosecutor, Naema Al-Ajeili, argued against Khatabi’s release and asked the court to impose a 15-year prison term.
The next hearing is set for 15 April.
HRW points out that Libya is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, both of which protect the right to freedom of expression. Libya’s provisional constitutional covenant says, in article 14, that the state “shall ensure freedom of opinion, freedom of speech for individuals and groups, freedom of scientific research, freedom of communication, freedom of press, media, printing, and distribution,” so long as it is not “contrary to public order.”
To protect freedom of speech, Libya should eliminate all laws that provide penalties for “insulting” public officials and institutions, and eliminate laws criminalising defamation, HRW have said.
“While everyone has a right to redress when their reputation has been impugned, the remedies should be limited to civil suits with penalties other than imprisonment. Moreover, to protect the public’s interest in free-ranging debate on matters of governance, courts should apply a higher threshold before imposing sanctions on people deemed to have defamed public figures.”
“Instead of using Qaddafi-era laws to put journalists in prison, Libya should be revising its laws to protect the unbridled public debate and access to information that Libyans have for so long been denied”, HRW said. [/restrict]
