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Tripoli, 6 April 2013:
Amara Hassan Al-Khatabi, the editor of the Ummah newspaper, has been taken from prison to hospital because of . . .[restrict]his deteriorating health. Arrested on 19 December and charged with defaming the judiciary, the 67-year old has been on hunger strike in Tripoli’s Hadba prison since 28 February. According to his lawyers, he suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure.
He was arrested after his newspaper accused 84 named judges of corruption, demanding that they be investigated.
His lawyer is reported by the newspaper Quryna saying that he is being held in hospital “under heavy guard”.
Khatabi’s case is increasingly being seen outside the country as the touchstone of press freedom in Libya . Numerous international and national organisations have called for his release. Justice Minister Salah Marghani, has also called on the Attorney General to release Khatabi on bail, but to no effect.
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