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By Houda Mzioudet.
Tripoli, 4 September 2013:
The desecration of graves and shrines in Mizdah on Monday night has been condemned by local . . .[restrict]council members and the Dar Al Iftaa.
Graves and shrines in the Jabal Nafusa town of Mizdah were desecrated and vandalised on Monday night by unknown persons, the chairman of Mizdah Local Council, Abdulhakim Badran, told the Libya Herald.
“One of the graves belonged a Libyan Sufi, Sheikh Badawi, whom Mizdah locals revere,” he said, adding that Mizdah locals were extremely upset by the incident.
“The vandalised graves were exhumed and the remains have been moved to a neighbouring cemetery,” said Badran. He added that a search for the culprits was now underway.
Office director for the Grand Mufti’s office (Dar Al Iftaa), Issam Najjar, told the Libya Herald that it considered “the attack on graves in Mizdah carried out by some groups” to be unlawful in Islamic law. He added that the Dar Al Iftaa expressed deep concern about these acts.
There was spate of attacks on Sufi shrines in number of Libyan towns and cities by armed groups in 2012. These included the attempted destruction of the Abdussalam Lasmar shrine in Zliten and graves beside the Sahaba Mosque in Derna. Last month, the ancient Shuwarif shrine in the Souk Al-Juma cemetery of the same name, was utterly destroyed by vandals using heavy equipment. [/restrict]
