Trial of Libyan ex-security chief postponed

The former head of Libyan security during the reign of slain leader Muammar Gaddafi, Abuzed Dorda, has said he was "not allowed to meet his lawyer privately and was interrogated in an inappropriate way during his 10 months’ detention". Dorda explained that while being arrested, he was sometimes “interrogated for more than seven continuous hours, each time from non prosecution officials,” and that the arresting authorities continued transferring him from one jail to another during the operation pointing out that he asked for a meeting with the “Minister of Justice responsible for human rights”. Salah Elfeitori, one of Dorda's lawyers, said the trial was postponed to August 28 to allow the defence to get acquainted with the case. This is the third time the case has been postponed since its launch on June 5. Dorda said that he should have the right to have a lawyer, adding that “today marks 10 months of detention without any real reason, no Libyan citizen has accused me of anything.” Dorda is accused of  conspiring to kill civilians during last year’s uprising against Gaddafi, providing weapons and conspiring to launch a civil war, depriving civilians from their right protest, arresting people without charge and misusing his power. Dorda worked with Gaddafi since the latter seizied power in 1969, where he was known for being a technocrat and not an intelligence officer. He is remembered as a having taken part in the most bloody periods of Gaddafi's regime during the 1980s.  it is believed that he took his security position in 2009.     Dorda’s trial started on June 5, and is the first senior official from the Gaddafi era to be prosecuted in Libya.