Tripoli, 31 August:
Two more members of the National Congress have been suspended over their alleged links with the Qaddafi regime, with . . .[restrict]another five expected to be announced in the coming days.
Abdulqader El-Hash, an independent congressman from Ghat, and Abd Rabbah Mikael, an independent from Beida, were suspended following an investigation by the Integrity Commission, which is responsible for investigating all those either seeking or in public office for crimes or corruption committed under the previous regime.
The men now have ten days to appeal the ruling.
Three other congressmen were suspended by the commission on Wednesday, in the first move of its kind since the elections.
Prior to the elections, the Integrity Commission was responsible for vetting every candidate wishing to stand for election to the Congress.
At that time, the commission disqualified 242 of the 3,702 candidates who stood for election.
Of those, 221 were men and 21 were women. 76 men and six women won the right to return on appeal, with 135 men and 15 women remaining disqualified.
It is not known if any of the five congressman so far suspended were amongst those candidates initially disqualified who subsequently won on appeal. [/restrict]
