There have been limited improvements in Libya's human rights record, including greater freedom of expression, New York-based Human Rights Watch has said.

总部设在纽约的人权监察站称，利比亚人的人权有了有限的提高，言论自由有了很大提高。

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Libyan security forces still act with impunity against dissent, HRW says

The group said abuses by security agencies were still the norm规范，基准, but the fact that it was able to present its report in Tripoli showed the progress.

This indicated some in the government were open to listening to criticism of its human rights record, it added.

On Monday, a prominent突出的，杰出的 critic and former political prisoner was arrested.

Jamal al-Haggi had criticised the continued detention⁴拘留，延迟 of political prisoners and denounced government abuses in a BBC interview in September.

Mr Haggi had only been freed following Western pressure earlier this year after serving two years of a 12-year sentence for organising a demonstration示威游行.

Prison massacre⁶

Ahead of the report's publication on Saturday, Human Rights Watch's Middle East director, Sarah Leah Whitson, noted⁷ that a "public assessment评定，估价 of Libya's human rights record in Tripoli would have been unthinkable a few years ago and reflects the expanded space for public discussion".

"The government should revise its penal⁹ code to allow all Libyans the freedom to have such public discussion without fear of criminal sanction制裁，处罚 and stop jailing those who express criticism of the government, including Jamal al-Haggi," she added.

HRW's report said the improvements in Libya's human rights record remained out of step不和谐 with the image of change it had presented since Colonel Muammar Gaddafi brought the country out of international isolation¹⁰ by ending its development of weapons of mass destruction大规模杀伤性武器 and support for militants¹¹.

"Over the past decade, Libya dramatically transformed its international status from a pariah¹²贱民 state," it said.

"Yet... an essentially¹³ repressive legal framework remains¹⁴ in place, as does the ability of government security forces to act with impunity不受惩罚地，无恙地 against dissent."

The report said the authorities had not yet published a thorough彻底的，周密的 account of the June 1996 massacre大屠杀 at the Abu Salim prison, where more than 1,000 prisoners were shot dead. Those responsible have never been identified.

Hundreds of people were still being kept in two prisons run by the Internal Security Agency even though they had finished their sentences or had been acquitted释放 by courts, including many dissidents持不同政见者, it added.

HRW also said political parties continued to be illegal and that there were no independent non-governmental organisations. However, though Libyan law still curtails¹⁶剪短，缩减 free speech, some journalists have been allowed to criticise³ some sections of the government in a way they would not have dared before.

But the group noted the contribution of a foundation run by Col Gaddafi's son, Saif al-Islam, which has catalogued several cases of torture拷问，折磨, wrongful imprisonment¹⁷ and other abuses.