Libya has a three-tier judiciary. At the lowest tier, there are the summary courts. They are competent to try matters involving small amounts in dispute and to dispense justice on minor misdemeanours. The courts of first instance hear appeals from summary courts and have original jurisdiction over all matters outside the competence of summary courts. The People’s Court is a special court of first instance to which crimes against the state (attempted forcible overthrow of the ruling regime or otherwise rallying opposition to it) are referred.

At the second instance, three courts of appeals sit in Tripoli, Benghazi and Sabha. The highest court is the Supreme Court, located in Tripoli, whose members are appointed by the General People’s Congress.

Under the circumstances, regardless of whether the People’s Court acquits or convicts the defendants in Case 44 of 1999, both prosecution and defence will have the right to appeal against the judgment before the Court of Appeals in Tripoli. The decision of that court, too, can be challenged before the Supreme Court, whose judgments are final and unappealable.

The People’s Court must comply with two legal standards: the Libyan Constitution and the Criminal Code, as well as, to a certain extent, with the Sharia, the Islamic canon law whose legal validity has been recognized by the country’s basic law.

Under the Libyan Constitution, adopted as a provisional act on December 11, 1969, “crime and penalty are only determined by law.” The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty. The Constitution provides “all necessary guarantees” for the defendant’s defence and prohibits the subjection of the accused or imprisoned to “mental or physical harm.”

The Libyan legal system is strongly influenced by the traditions of continental law and particularly Italian law. The Libyan Criminal Code of 1954 identified crimes in decreasing order of seriousness as felonies, misdemeanours and contraventions. Under the Sharia, though, an act could be, depending on the circumstances, either mandatory, commendable, permissible, reprehensible, or forbidden. Libyan legal and religious scholars are still divided over ways to reconcile the two systems.

A new Criminal Code was adopted in 1973, and it criminalized certain acts against the security of the state and introduced the death penalty for “offences against the principles of the revolution,” such as high treason, attempt to forcibly change the form of government and premeditated murder. After the attempted coup in 1975, the Libyan General People’s Congress amended the Criminal Code, criminalizing a conspiracy with foreigners against the state, divulgence of military or state secrets, possession of devices to engage in espionage etc.

Traditional Sharia punishments like limb amputation and flogging are seen as inhuman in Libya. Without formally rejecting Sharia punishment, Libyan criminal justice administers extensively modern forms of punishment like various terms of imprisonment. The death penalty is also imposed, despite repeated appeals to Muammar  Qaddafi to abolish it.

Only serious crimes are referred to an Arraignment Chamber (conventional offences go directly to a criminal court). Before the Arraignment Chamber, the accused may plead not guilty of the charges or recant confessions. The investigative magistrate has the same rights as the prosecutor. Charges are pressed directly, and the prosecutor represents the people. The Arraignment Chamber does not render judgment before completion of the investigation. If a crime is detected, police may detain the suspect for 24 hours, after which the information on the case must be passed to the Prosecutor General's Office. The prosecutor's office may either release the detainee or remand him or her in custody for 6 to 25 days. This period can be extended by the Appellate Board and, after the start of the trial, by the court.

Libyan law safeguards respect for the rights of detainees upon detention and testimony, and if these rights are violated, the charges may be nullified. Detainees' rights are also guaranteed by the Great Green Charter of Human Rights of the Jamahiriyan Era and in the Expansion of Freedoms Law. Libya has also signed the UN Convention against Torture. Every accused may invoke these safeguards. Torture and degrading treatment are qualified as very grave violations. Under the Green Charter, the persons whose rights are violated can turn to the court.

The sentence can be appealed within 30 days before the Court of Appeals and before the Criminal Board of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court, however, does not pass sentences but oversees observance of the law and, if it determines that there are irregularities, refers the case back for trial to another board of the court.