Libya’s General National Congress (GNC) should vote down the latest
draft of a new law to bar Gaddafi-era officials from holding public
office. The proposed law’s provisions and procedures for exclusion are
too sweeping and vague, Human Rights Watch said. Further, a recent
amendment to the provisional constitution would prohibit judicial review
of the law. A vote is expected in congress on May 5, 2013.
Congress
has deliberated over the bill for months amid rising tension and
controversy. On April 28, members of armed militias laid siege to the
Foreign Affairs Ministry in Tripoli, and two days later the Justice
Ministry, to demand the removal of officials who previously held office
under Muammar Gaddafi before he was ousted in 2011. Ministries of
Interior, Finance, and Electricity were also blockaded by armed militias
that week.
“Libyans have a right to expect that officials who
abused their positions under Gaddafi to commit crimes or violate human
rights will be removed and never again allowed to hold public office,”
said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human
Rights Watch. “But this law is far too vague – potentially barring
anyone who ever worked for the authorities during the four decades of
Gaddafi’s rule.”
The latest version of the draft law published on
the congressional website indicates that it would cover anyone who held
an official position from September 9, 1969, Gaddafi’s first day in
power, until the declared end of the armed conflict that brought his
downfall and death, October 23, 2011. The law would be valid for five
years, while previous versions said the law would be valid for 10 years.
Article
1 of the draft law lists 23 categories of public positions as well as
acts committed under the Gaddafi government – such as showing a “hostile
attitude toward the February 17 revolution” – that would receive
scrutiny. Under article 2, anyone who held any of the positions listed
under the first article or is judged to have failed its other criteria
would be barred from 20 categories of official public positions,
including ambassadorships and other foreign service jobs, all the
educational institutions, members of unions and people assigned by the
GNC, and the interim government.
The draft law provides for the
creation of a commission to carry out its provisions and weed out
Gaddafi-era officials, making it a criminal offense punishable by up to
one year in prison to “decline, default, neglect, or give incorrect
information” to the questionnaire established by the commission. This
commission already exists under the name Integrity and Patriotism
Commission. It will be renamed the High Committee to Implement the
Criteria for Occupying Public Positions, with the same membership.
Although
the draft law ensures the right to appeal a decision by the commission,
the law lacks guarantees for people subject to exclusion of minimum due
process rights such as the right to be heard during the hearing and the
right to legal counsel, Human Rights Watch said.
On April 9,
Congress approved an amendment to the Constituent Covenant, Libya’s
provisional constitution, to exclude any possibility of judicial review
of the political isolation law once Congress passes it. That would
eliminate the possibility that the Supreme Court could strike down the
law. In 2012, the constitutional chamber of the Supreme Court struck
down the law criminalizing “glorification of the tyrant,” ruling that it
was unconstitutional.
“Libyan lawmakers should be entrenching
legal safeguards to ensure that laws that violate human rights and the
provisional constitution can be ruled invalid, not removing these
protections to ‘immunize’ questionable draft laws against the test of
judicial review,” Whitson said.
The proposed law would likely
violate Libya’s provisional constitution and also breach the country’s
international human rights obligations, Human Rights Watch said.
International
law requires Libya to allow all citizens the right to hold political
office without discrimination based on political associations. As a
state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR), Libya is required to allow its citizens equal opportunity to
participate in political life, without discrimination or “unreasonable
restrictions.” The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, also
ratified by Libya, requires states to ensure that every citizen has the
right to participate freely in the government of their country.
“The
GNC should not allow itself to be railroaded into making very bad laws
because groups of armed men are demanding it,” Whitson said. “Libya’s
long-term prospects for peace and security will be seriously diminished
if the congress agrees to nod through this law.”
tripoli post
نالوت 06 مايو 2013 ( وال ) - بدأ بمنطقة نالوت هذه الأيام موسم جز الأغنام
الذي يقوم به المواطنون تجسيدا لموروث ثقافي شعبي فني وأحياء لعادات الأباء
والأجداد .
وأفاد مراسل وكالة الأنباء الليبية أن موسم الجز يؤكد روح الألفة والتعاون بين
الأهالي والشباب ويمثل مناسبة اجتماعية واقتصادية تتكرر كل عام وتجمع بين الأصالة
والحداثة .
وأوضح أن موسم جز الاغنام يمثل موروثا ثقافيا تتناقله الأجيال في صورة تبرز
تمسك شعبنا بهويته الثقافية والاجتماعية وبعاداته وتقاليده العربية الأصيلة .
...(وال - نالوت)... وكالة الأنباء الليبية
