Jamal el-Haji

Original Report

Human Rights Watch called on Libyan authorities to immediately release and drop all charges against Jamal el-Haji, a political prisoner arrested on December 9, 2009, for publicly criticizing human rights violations in Libya.

The case highlights the need to reform oppressive criminal laws curtailing free expression, Human Rights Watch said. The detention stems from a five-page complaint that el-Haji, writer and rights advocate, sent to the Justice Secretary on May 24 about violations of his basic rights while he was in custody, from 2007 to 2009, including torture and inhumane conditions, and a travel ban on international travel since his release. He also criticized Libya's lack of judicial independence, the interference of the security services in the judiciary, and the arbitrary detention of hundreds of persons.

El-Haji spent two years in prison as a political prisoner, convicted of "attempting to overthrow the political system" and "communication with enemy powers," for planning a demonstration in February 2007. The demonstration was to mark the anniversary of a violent clash in 2006 between demonstrators and police in Benghazi, Libya's second-largest city, in which at least 11 people died. The State Security Court sentenced el-Haji, who holds both Libyan and Danish citizenship, to 12 years of imprisonment for "attempting to overthrow the political system" and "communication with enemy powers." Prison authorities placed el-Haji in solitary confinement in November 2008 after he refused to end a hunger strike to protest his detention.


قالت هيومن رايتس ووتش اليوم إن على السلطات الليبية أن تفرج على وجه السرعة عن جمال الحاجي وتسقط جميع الاتهامات المنسوبة إليه، وهو سجين سياسى تم اعتقاله في 9 ديسمبر/كانون الأول 2009 جراء انتقاده علناً لانتهاكات حقوق الإنسان في ليبيا. وتلقي القضية الضوء على الحاجة لإصلاح القوانين الجنائية التي تقيد من حرية التعبير، حسبما قالت هيومن رايتس ووتش.

سبب الاحتجاز هو شكوى من خمس صفحات كتبها الحاجي - السجين السياسي السابق - للسيد أمين العدل في 24 مايو/أيار يتحدث فيها عن وقوع انتهاكات لحقت بحقوقه الأساسية أثناء احتجازه، من 2007 إلى 2009، ومنها التعذيب ومعايشة الأوضاع اللاإنسانية والحظر على السفر إلى الخارج منذ إخلاء سبيله. كما انتقد افتقاد ليبيا لاستقلال القضاء وتدخل الأجهزة الأمنية في مجريات التقاضي، والاحتجاز التعسفي بحق مئات السجناء

Source: human rights watch http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/12/24

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