By Sami Zaptia.
Tripoli, 3 January:
The Libyan authorities have belatedly lifted historic travel bans imposed by Qaddafi on opponents to his regime, . . .[restrict]LANA reports.
Interior Minister Ashour Shuwail issued a decision on Tuesday lifting the old ban which it transpires had been making travel difficult for those on these lists goaing abroad whilst carrying out their official duties.
It is amazing to think that the Libyan authorities had overlooked the official removal of these lists of many individuals of the former opposition for such a long period after the official end of the Revolution in October 2011.
This is especially so in view of the fact that many former members of opposition to the Qaddafi regime today hold high official positions.
It seems that some foreign countries, which the news statement by LANA did not mention, were still viewing these lists of banned individuals as valid and were presenting obstacles to the travel of those on them.
While the Qaddafi regime may have been very inefficient at achieving many everyday mundane things, his repressive regime had efficient computerised lists of Libyans at border crossings to prevent them from entering or leaving the country.
The Ministry of Interior also revealed that in the past few days it had taken the decision to put this specific computer system for the prohibition of travel under the authority of the Passports, Nationality and Foreigners’ Affairs Authority.
The aim of moving the system away from the intelligence service, as was the case under the Qaddafi regime, was in order that no Libyan citizens’ name could be added or removed from these official travel ban lists without a court order or a written decision by the Minister of Interior, the statement reveals. [/restrict]
