Libyan authorities have been urged to immediately drop criminal defamation charges and free Amara Hassan al-Khatabi, editor of al-Ummah daily, says Human Rights Watch.
Al-Khatabi, who has been in detention since December 19, 2012, is on
trial for “insulting” and “slandering” members of the judiciary. His
private lawyer was not allowed to visit him while he was detained in
prison and says he was transferred to a medical facility due to his
fragile health on April 6, 2013, where he remains detained under guard, HRW claim on their website.
Al-Khatabi is apparently the first journalist in Libya to go on trial
for “insulting” authorities since the ouster of Muammar Gaddafi. Libya
should 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, Human Rights Watch said.
“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
should free al-Khatabi and eliminate its laws that provide prison terms
for nonviolent speech.”
On March 2, Justice Minister Salah al-Marghani urged the prosecution
to release al-Khatabi on bail due to his frail health, also saying that
journalists should face fines rather than prison for professional
offenses.
The basis of the charges is an article, “The Black List of the Judiciary,” in the November 21 issue of al-Ummah.
The article contains a list of 87 judges, prosecutors, and lawyers, all
members of the public judiciary, accused of illicit earnings, accepting
bribes, and loyalty to Gaddafi, along with a preface stating that al-Ummah had received this list from an unnamed source and was reprinting it as it was.
Although there is no official order to shut down the paper, al-Ummah stopped publishing its daily newspaper after the last two printed issues were confiscated.
Authorities are apparently prosecuting Al-Khatabi under article 195
of the Gaddafi-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, defense, or security body […]”
Ramadan Salem, al-Khatabi’s lawyer, told Human Rights Watch 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. He said that al-Khatabi was transferred
to the health facility with Justice Ministry approval.
Human Rights Watch attended the most recent court session, on April
1. Al-Khatabi sat in a wheelchair. Two guards had to help him to his
feet when his case was called. He remained silent throughout the
proceedings, which his family attended.
Al-Khatabi’s lawyer pleaded in vain for his client’s release. The
defense also argued that al-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. Public
Prosecutor Naema Al Ajeili argued against al-Khatabi’s release and asked
the court to impose a 15-year prison term. The next hearing is set for
April 15. The verdict is not expected to be announced at that session.
Presiding Judge Ahmed Birbash ordered the case file to be reviewed by
a public defender lawyer even though al-Khatabi is represented by a
private lawyer and had not requested an additional lawyer to represent
him. Birbash also ordered Salem, the private lawyer, to enter a
not-guilty plea for al-Khatabi during the next session to comply with
all formalities needed to end a trial and issue a verdict.
On April 11, the defendant filed a motion to disqualify Birbash from
the case. The filing raises concerns about the judge’s suitability to
preside over the case and the defendant’s explicit wish to be
represented by Salem, despite the judge involving a public defender.
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.”
On June 14, 2012, the Libyan Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a
law that criminalized free speech. Law 37/2012, which the National
Transitional Council had passed on May 2, criminalized a variety of
types of political speech, including speech that “glorifies the tyrant
[Muammar Gaddafi],” did “damage [to] the February 17 Revolution,” or
insulted Libya’s institutions. The presiding Judge, Kamal Edhan,
declared the law unconstitutional. The case was litigated by a group of
lawyers who included the current justice minister, Salah al-Marghani,
and the current deputy president of the Congress, Giuma Attigha.
To protect freedom of speech, Libya should eliminate all laws that
provide penalties for “insulting” public officials and institutions, and
eliminate laws criminalizing defamation, Human Rights Watch 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 Gaddafi-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,”
Goldstein said.
Source - Human Rights Watch
Television footage showed Mubarak, dressed in white and wearing
sunglasses, wheeled out of an ambulance on a stretcher and taken into
Cairo's Police Academy. (Al Arabiya)
