A Libyan journalist held in prison for four months charged with insulting the judiciary has been hospitalized after going on hunger strike.

A Libyan journalist held in prison for four months charged with insulting the judiciary has been hospitalized after going on hunger strike, his lawyer said on Monday.

Amara Abdullah al-Khitabi, 67, editor of the private newspaper Al-Umma, "has been on hunger strike for three weeks," his lawyer Ramadhan Salem told AFP, and said his client was suffering from serious health problems.

Salem said that Khitabi has been accused of "defaming and insulting" the judicial system for publishing a list of 87 judges and prosecutors suspected of corruption.

Under Libya's legal system, he could be jailed for between three and 15 years if convicted.

The list was widely available on social media websites before Al-Umma published it, Salem added, sharply criticizing irregularities in the legal proceedings and calling for Khitabi to be released.

A court on Monday decided to adjourn a new hearing in Khitabi's trial after a judge withdrew from the case, but Salem said his client was unable to attend the hearing as he was in hospital because of the hunger strike.

Journalists and human rights groups including Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF), Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have also called on Libyan authorities to free Khitabi.

RSF has said it is "is very concerned about the growing dangers to which Libyan journalists are exposed.

"The fight against corruption goes hand in hand with transparency in all democratic societies and, in this respect, the role of journalists is fundamental."

It has demanded Khitabi's "immediate release."

Dozens of new television stations and newspapers sprang up across Libya following the 2011 fall of Moammar Gaddafi, who gagged the media during his four decades in power.