The repercussions of the sentence of fifteen years in prison for the journalist Ismail Bouziraba are still getting international and local reactions.
The Canadian Embassy in Libya commented on the ruling issued by the Military Court in Benghazi against journalist Ismail, saying that freedom of the media is important for transparency, accountability and reconciliation in Libya.
A comment came with the re-publication of previous posts of the United Nations Mission in Libya, expressing its concern about the ruling, in a reaction indicating its solidarity with the discontent expressed by the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, calling for Ismail’s immediate release.
The embassy considered that the detention and trial of the journalist “could constitute a violation of the laws of Libya and Libya’s international obligations, in terms of the right to a fair trial and freedom of opinion and expression.”
The European Union’s ambassador to Libya has also expressed in a Twitter post “grave concern” about the ruling.
Journalist Bouziraba received this verdict after two years in detention, while the authorities did not issue clarifications about the charges against the journalist, as local sources and bloggers indicated that the charges were related to his communication with prohibited TV channels and news agencies, while the jurists consider that this is not an excuse in any way to justify the ruling .
A ruling that would adversely affect freedom of the press in Libya, which ranked sixty-fourth out of a hundred and eighty countries in press freedom for 2020 as issued by Reporters Without Borders.
