Libyan gunmen reject demand to end sieges

Protesters from the Libyan city of the Zawia hold placards and shout slogans during a protest at Martyrs Square in Tripoli yesterday against the recent siege of ministries in Tripoli and the continuing presence of militias in the country.AFP/TripoliLibyan gunmen besieging two ministries have rejected government demands to disband, saying they are determined to stay put until authorities agree to their demand and sack former regime officials, one of them said yesterday. “A delegation representing the government of (Prime Minister) Ali Zeidan came to meet us on Wednesday and asked us to lift the sieges but we refused,” the militiaman told AFP outside the encircled foreign ministry. “We will continue blocking (access to) the ministries of foreign affairs and justice until our demands are completely satisfied,” he added. Meanwhile, opponents of the sieges held protests in central Tripoli’s Martyrs Square, waving signs calling for the respect of public institutions and denouncing the use of weapons to press any cause. Most of them came from the western city of Zawiya, which had seen some fierce fighting in the 2011 uprising that toppled Gaddafi’s regime, while others were residents of Tripoli. The gunmen have encircled the foreign ministry since Sunday and the justice ministry since Tuesday, to demand that the General National Congress adopt a bill that would purge former officials of the ousted regime of Muammar Gaddafi. The same groups, most of them former rebels who fought to oust Gaddafi in 2011, briefly occupied the finance ministry on Monday. The GNC, Libya’s highest political authority, has been studying proposals for a law that would see top figures from the Gaddafi regime removed from their posts. That has caused a stir among Libya’s political elite, as several current senior officials could be affected. Under increasing pressure from demonstrators, the GNC said on Monday that it was suspending plenary sessions until Sunday. It said the delay was needed to give political blocs in the GNC time to examine the bill to reach a compromise on the law. GNC Vice President Salah al-Makhzoum said a compromise had been reached among the political blocs by adding “exceptions” in the bill in order to retain key individuals. He said the bill is expected to be voted on next week. But the militiaman who spoke to AFP said the bill “falls below the expectations of the protesters” and has been “rejected” by a coalition of partisans of excluding former regime officials. Observers have said armed groups are using the law only as a pretext because their interests are threatened by Zeidan’s government, which is trying to dissolve the militias. The former rebels, who helped oust the former regime, have grown in influence in the aftermath of the Libyan uprising that toppled Gaddafi.Saif al-Islam appears briefly in Zintan court

Saif al-Islam, a son of deposed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, appeared in court yesterday in the town of Zintan, where he had been held since his capture by former rebels in November 2011. Saif, at the centre of a legal tussle between Libya and the International Criminal Court (ICC), smiled and told reporters he was in good health during his brief appearance.Saif is wanted by the ICC on war crimes charges, but the case to be heard in Zintan relates to charges that he gave information to an ICC lawyer last year that could endanger national security.He was the only defendant of 13 people who were called to appear in court on those charges, confirming he was in the room when his name was called out and that his lawyers were present.The case was then postponed until September 19 because the defence’s case was incomplete.Libyan lawyer Ahmed al-Jehani, who liaises between the ICC and the Tripoli government, said he expected the ICC to decide in May whether Libya can handle Saif’s trial and that of Gaddafi’s former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi.“No one can say whether he will get the death penalty,” he said when asked if Saif was at risk of being executed in Libya. “It is up to the judge.”