As Libya emerges from long-term international isolation, the government has taken some important steps to improve human rights, including the recent release of 14 political prisoners. But the Libyan government continues to hold political prisoners, conduct unfair trials, and severely restrict free speech and association, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today (January 25). “We welcome Libya’s first steps toward reform,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch who visited Tripoli this week to present the government with the report. “But the government has a long road to travel before it meets the international standards of human rights.”

On the first anniversary of cyber-dissident Abdel Razak Al Mansouri's arrest, Reporters Without Borders has reiterated its call for the immediate release of this former bookseller, who is serving an 18-month prison sentence for posting articles critical of President Muammar Gaddafi on the Internet. "Al Mansouri has become the symbol of the fight for free expression in Libya," the organisation said. "By using the Internet to publish independent news and information, he opened a path which many other Internet users are bound to follow."

Libya's Supreme Court should consider the torture claims of six foreign medical workers on death row for injecting 426 Libyan children with HIV, Human Rights Watch said. The court will review the case. Four of the six defendants, five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor, told Human Rights Watch in May that they confessed after enduring torture, including beatings, electric shock and sexual assault. Libyan officials denied all of the defendants prompt access to a lawyer, they said. In June, a Tripoli court acquitted 10 Libyan security officials accused of using torture against the defendants.

The Libyan Supreme Court's reported a decision on October 9 to retry 86 political prisoners is a hopeful sign of reform, Human Rights Watch has announced. These Muslim Brotherhood members have served seven years in prison for nonviolent activities after being convicted by a now-closed tribunal that violated fair-trial standards under Libyan and international law. "While the Libyan government had promised us that the political prisoners would be released unconditionally, their retrial is still a welcome step," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa director. "The Libyan authorities should now provide a prompt and fair trial with international observers."