On 11 December 2009, Alkarama submitted Mr Al-Hajji's case as an urgent appeal to the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, requesting his intervention with the Libyan authorities for Mr Al-Hajji's immediate release. On 15 December 2009, Alkarama sent his case to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention asking that they recognise his detention as arbitrary.

Jamal Al-Hajji was originally arrested in February 2007 after attempting to organize a peaceful gathering to commemorate the death, 2 years before, of 12 people at a demonstration in Tripoli. He was detained without charges for over a year, then tried before the State Security Court in June 2008 and sentence to 12 years imprisonment. Following his release in March 2009, he submitted a complaint to the Ministry of Justice, in which he laid out his opinions and criticism of the justice system in Libya; the treatment of prisoners; and the torture and arbitrary detention of citizens.

It was as a consequence of this complaint that on 5 November 2009, the State Security Prosecution Office in Tripoli summoned Mr Al-Hajji for questioning. He was released the same day. However, on 9 December 2009, he was summoned once again for questioning, but was this time sent to Jdeida prison without being presented before a judge or been charged.

It is clear that the Libyan authorities have detained Jamal Al-Hajji due to his activities as a human rights defender, and in particular following the submission of his complaint to the Minister of Justice. Arbitrary detentions are commonplace in Libya, and are frequently aimed at those who speak out against the regime. Despite Libya having ratified various UN conventions since 1970, the authorities continue to forbid independent human rights observers from investigating the number of political detainees held inside its prisons. But by all accounts, since the 1969 coup d'état, thousands of political prisoners have been detained, many of whom are being held incommunicado and some of whom have died as a result of torture and lack of medical care.