Freedom of speech in Libya under threat from new law

25 May 2012 | Uncategorized

In a talk at Chatham House in London today, Libya’s interim Prime Minister Abdurrahim El-Kib talked about “re-establishing the state” in Libya after 42 years of Gaddafi’s brutal rule and about the path towards elections due next month. He said the interim government is “committeed to enhancing respect for human rights”.

Challenged on Law 37, passed at the start of May, which restricts freedom of speech, El-Kib defended the law as necessary during a time of transition when there is still what he called “a tremendous effort to destabilise the country”. He went on to say that “there are many who are trying to get us to a point where we cannot even hold the election.”

Law 37 prohibits “damaging” the 17 February revolution and also criminalises any insults to Islam, or the “prestige of the state or its institutions or judiciary, and every person who publicly insults the Libyan people, slogan or flag”. This law clearly undermines the right to free expression and risks undermining Libya’s transition to democracy since any free election must be based on open debate and respect for rights.

Prime Minister El-Kib said: “Once we get to elections and a general assembly is formed, I guarantee that such laws will disappear.” This however will depend in future on the national assembly and not on the current interim Prime Minister and so there are no guarantees unless the law is repealed now.

Asked by Index about freedom of the press and of civil society, El-Kib said the media are flourishing in Libya and that he fully supports press freedom and an active civil society: “We encourage civil society, we meet with them, we participate in their events if we are invited.”

He also expressed his conviction that once elected the national assembly will guarantee human rights and freedom of the press when the new constitution is drawn up: “These reflect a set of values that caused the revolution, so you cannot ever think this is something we want to compromise.”

Until Law 37 is repealed, these positive sentiments will not reflect or presage a new Libya that fully respects human rights.

 

 

Azerbaijan tells Baron Cohen there’s only one dictator in town

25 May 2012 | Europe and Central Asia

Azerbaijani fans of Sacha Baron Cohen are out of luck if they are interested in seeing his latest movie, The Dictator. In the film Baron Cohen plays corrupt dictator Admiral General Aladeen, a character inspired by the late eccentric Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. The only cinema playing the film in Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital, cancelled screenings of the film Wednesday for “technical reasons”.

Azerbaijan’s own corrupt president, Ilham Aliyev, seems to share some of Admiral Aladeen’s hunger for crushing democracy. Security forces have cracked down on protests in the lead up to tomorrow night’s Eurovision song contest, which is taking place in Baku this year.

The dictator’s family (Aliyev’s, not Aladeen’s) are noted for their lavish tastes: two years ago, £30m worth of luxury property in Dubai was bought in the name of Heydar Aliyev, the president’s then 11-year old son. Meanwhile, daughter Leyla Aliyeva runs her own glossy lifestyle magazine, Baku, published by Condé Nast. The country has spent 100s of millions of dollars on hosting Eurovision.

Read more about Azerbaijan’s less than dazzling human rights record here.

Somalia: journalist killed

25 May 2012 | Africa, Index Index, minipost

A journalist from Radio Shabelle has been murdered in Somalia. Ahmed Ado Anshur was shot dead on his way home from work in Mogadishu yesterday. The young journalist was the host of a popular radio programme Qubanaha Wararka, and was renowned for his outspoken views on the political situation. He was shot several times in the head and chest as he crossed a local market and died instantly. Anshur is the sixth journalist to be murdered in Somalia since the start of the year. Six other journalists from Radio Shabelle have been killed in the last five years.

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