Libya extends draconian Gaddafi-era legislation

Reporters Without Borders is very disturbed by legislative provisions that Libya's provisional parliament, the General National Congress (GNC), has passed in the run-up to tomorrow's election for a 60-member constituent assembly, the NGO said in a latest report.An amendment to the penal code approved on 5 February bodes ill for the drafting of a constitution that respects freedoms and Libya's international obligations.The new "free" Libya seems further than ever from the principles of freedom that were nonetheless guaranteed in the 2011 Constituent Covenant, the report added.Reporters Without Borders had long criticized the failure to repeal or amend a Gaddafi-era provision, which violated Libya's international obligations and was used to detain journalists.The amendment of the law simply adapts the existing repressive law to the new political context. It seems to be saying that freedom of expression will not be guaranteed in the new Libya any more than it was under Muammar Gaddafi.Reporters Without Borders condemns this amendment as a direct attack on fundamental freedoms, especially freedom of expression and information, which are guaranteed by the Libyan Constituent Covenant of 2011 and Libya's international treaty obligations, and calls for this article's withdrawal from the penal code.