The hearing in the trial of human rights defender Mr Jamal Al Haji has been postponed until 17 March 2010. Jamal Al Haji has been charged with "insulting judicial authorities" under article 195 of the Libyan Penal Code.

Further Information

If convicted of this charge he could face from 3 to 15 years in prison. Jamal Al Haji was imprisoned for his human rights activities between 2007 and 2009. Front Line previously issued an appeal in relation to the sentencing of Jamal Al Haji on 1 September 2007.

On 3 March 2010, Jamal Al Haji appeared before the State Security Court charged with "insulting judicial authorities" under article 195 of the Penal Code. However, the judge decided to postpone the hearing until 17 March 2010 to allow Jamal Al Haji’s lawyer, Mr Omar al-Habbasi, to review the case documents, which he had not had access to up until then.

Jamal Al Haji previously appeared before the State Security Court on 17 February 2010 but on that occasion the judge adjourned the session until 3 March 2010 since Jamal Al-Haji had not been given the opportunity to obtain legal representation.

The charges against Jamal Al Haji are based on a formal complaint that he made concerning violations of his human rights while he was in detention from February 2007 to March 2009.

On 9 December 2009, the office of the General Prosecutor Abdurahman Elabbar released a memorandum stating that it had investigated the allegations made in the complaint and proved that they were untrue and therefore slanderous, which is punishable by law under article 195 of the penal code. The previous day, 8 December 2009, the General Prosecutor had ordered Jamal al-Haji's detention in Jdaida prison in Tripoli pending trial.

Jamal Al Haji sent the five page letter of complaint to Justice Secretary Mostafa Abdeljalil on 24 May 2009 outlining violations of his basic rights, including torture and inhumane conditions, while he was in detention as well as a refusal to allow him to travel abroad since his release. In the letter he also criticised Libya's lack of judicial independence, the interference of the security services in the judiciary, and the arbitrary detention of hundreds of people.

In March 2009, Jamal Al Haji was the last person to be released from detention out of a group of fourteen human rights defenders who were arrested on 15 and 16 February 2007 for calling for a demonstration to commemorate the first anniversary of a demonstration in the city of Benghazi in which eleven demonstrators were killed. Shortly before his arrest, Jamal Al Haji had published an article which called for “freedom, democracy, a constitutional state, and law” in Libya.

Front Line believes that the charge against Jamal Al Haji is directly related to his human rights activities. Front Line fears for the physical and psychological of Jamal Al Haji.