The Office of the Attorney General clarified that the Public Prosecution had filed a criminal case against the accused for deliberately importing cannabis seeds by using customs documents that contained false statements.
The Tripoli Criminal Court issued its verdict convicting the defendant, sentencing him to life imprisonment, fining him forty thousand Libyan dinars, and permanently depriving him of his civil rights.
The cannabis plant is considered a plant with psychoactive effects, from which the narcotic substances hashish and marijuana are extracted. This plant is classified as a prohibited narcotic substance under Libyan law. Its cultivation, circulation, or importation is strictly prohibited due to its health effects, which include addiction and various mental disorders.
The verdict is based on Article (33) of Law No. 7 of 1990 of the Libyan Penal Code, as well as the Anti-Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances Law No. (7) of 1990 and its subsequent amendments. This article stipulates that in the case of bringing in or smuggling cannabis seeds (classified as prohibited narcotic substances): “Whoever imports, exports, produces, or manufactures narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances with the intent of trading, distributing, promoting, or delivering them by any means whatsoever shall be punished by life imprisonment and a fine of not less than twenty thousand dinars and not more than fifty thousand dinars.