UN mission in Libya condemns attack on Sebha court

By Walid Abdullah

TRIPOLI, Libya (AA) – The United Nations mission in Libya on Friday condemned an attack on a court in the southwestern city of Sebha.

“Alarmed by” the reported attack on the Sebha court of appeal on Thursday, the UN Support Mission (UNSML) said it “strongly condemns any form of electoral-related violence and reiterates that the electoral process must be protected.”

The mission said that “attacks against judicial or election facilities or judicial or elections personnel as are not only criminal acts, punishable under Libyan law, but also undermine Libyans’ right to participate in the political process.”

It stressed the importance of protecting the electoral process, reiterating its call for transparent, fair and inclusive elections slated for Dec. 24 as set out in the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum roadmap of and relevant UN Security Council resolution.

On Thursday, an armed group affiliated with renegade general Khalifa Haftar's militia stormed the Sebha court to disrupt the appeal process that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi's lawyer intends to lodge, after opening the door for appeals to those who were disqualified from the presidential race, according to a security source.

Nearly 100 candidates have registered to run for president in Libya’s Dec. 24 elections, including Haftar, transitional Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, and Saif al-Islam, the son of former strongman Muammar Gaddafi, who was disqualified Wednesday by a Libyan court over committing war crimes.

The presidential and parliamentary elections are set to take place under a UN-sponsored agreement reached by Libyan political rivals last November.

The application deadline for those wishing to run for president was Nov. 22. Nominations for parliamentary polls remain open through Dec. 7.

Libyans hope that the upcoming elections will help end the armed conflict that has plagued the oil-rich country for years.

*Writing by Mahmoud Barakat