Libya Assures Ex-PM of Fair Trial

NTC Chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil stated that Libya’s former prime minister Baghdadi al-Mahmudi will get a “fair trial” when he is extradited from Tunisia. ”First of all we will ensure a secure place for him, then we will guarantee a fair trial, despite the acts he has perpetrated against the Libyan people,” said Abdel Jalil. Additionally, Libya’s new interim prime minister Abdurrahim el-Keib called for the lifting international sanctions that have frozen an estimated $150 billion worth of oil assets hoarded by the Gadhafi regime.

Meanwhile, Ali al-Sallabi, one of Libya’s most senior Muslim figures, confirmed the formation of a new political party promoting a platform of a ”moderate” interpretation of Islamic law. He said the movement, currently named The National Gathering for Freedom, Justice and Development, supported basing Libya’s constitution on sharia law, but that it would be moderate and pursue democratic politics on the model of similar parties in Turkey and Tunisia. ”This is not an Islamist party but a nationalist party,” Dr Sallabi said, adding that ”its political agenda respects the general principles of Islam and Libyan culture.”

Sara ElGaddari suggests that the “focus on the ‘continuing’ threat of Sharia law in Libya and other North African counterparts is obscuring the real twin issues of freedom of expression and equal rights for all.” She focuses on the development of civil society, which she says is crucial to “answering the hopes and dreams of young Libyans who have fought so hard to gain their freedom.”