A/HRC/16/15 14. The Libyan Arab Jamahiriya believed that human rights education was a duty that should be fulfilled in the school system and the family system and by relevant civil society organizations. 15. The delegation provided responses to some of the questions asked in advance, indicating that it hoped that delegations would respect the religious, social and cultural specificities of the Libyan people. 16. The Libyan Arab Jamahiriya noted that laws safeguarded freedom of expression through principles enshrined in the Great Green Document. Article 5 promoted the right of expression of every person. This right had been enshrined in the Code on the Promotion of Freedom, which, in its article 8, stated that “each citizen has the right to express his opinions and ideas openly in People’s Congresses and in all mass media, no citizen is questioned on the exercise of this right unless this has been abused in a way that prejudices the People’s Authority or is used for personal interest, and it is prohibited to advocate ideas and opinions in a clandestine manner or to seek to disseminate them through force, temptation or terrorism”. Additionally, it was a basic law with which all contradictory or conflicting legislation should be compatible and was to be amended accordingly. In the context of freedom of expression, each citizen, male or female, who had reached the age of 18 was entitled to membership in the Basic People’s Congresses and, by virtue of that membership, had the right to express his or her opinion on any matter. Further, in view of the growth of information networks, restrictions imposed on freedom of expression had become an obsolete issue and such freedom could be prevented. With regarding to revoking legislation that restricted freedom of expression, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya indicated that such legislation does not exist and that Libyan basic law explicitly mentioned freedom of expression. 17. Freedom of religion was also guaranteed, in accordance with basic laws and the Green Document, which stipulated that religion was a private spiritual and individual value and constituted a direct relationship with the Creator (God). 18. Regarding measures taken to prevent torture and ill treatment in detention centres or prisons, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya indicated that the practice of torture and ill treatment was forbidden in article 434 of the Penal Code, which stated that public officials who had ordered the torture of a person or had committed an act of torture were sentenced to 3 to 10 years’ imprisonment. Article 17 of the Promotion of Freedom Act stipulated that society forbade penalties that undermined the dignity of a person and inflicted physical harm or material injury. The legislation adequately addressed this issue; therefore, new measures were unnecessary in this context. 19. People who had been harmed could file a complaint with the general prosecutor. The public prosecutor’s office periodically inspected police and prison centres during unannounced visits. From 1 January 2009 until 30 June 2010, the prosecutor had dealt with 7 cases involving torture and 66 cases involving the withholding of liberty. This showed that these were individual cases and that the issue did not constitute a national phenomenon. 20. Regarding extending invitations to special procedures, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya reaffirmed its cooperation with these procedures, provided that mandate holders abided by the Code of Conduct governing their work, that they respected the mandate entrusted to them by the Council and that they did not interfere in the internal affairs of the State. The Libyan Arab Jamahiriya had extended invitations to the Special Rapporteur on the right to education and the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, prostitution and pornography. 21. With regard to the extent of consultation with civil society in the preparation of the national report, as indicated earlier, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya noted that a Committee had been established to include all human rights authorities in addressing this matter. 5