By Sami Zaptia.
Tripoli, 14 November 2013:
At Sunday’s press conference, Prime Minister Ali Zeidan refused to name those accused of committing crimes . . .[restrict]in eastern Libya.
Challenged by the media to name the perpetrators of criminal and terror activity in the eastern cities of Benghazi and Derna in order to put the general public’s mind at rest, the Prime Minister refused.
It was put to the PM that since the government had revealed that it either knew who was behind these criminal activities or that it had indeed arrested some of them, would it not put the public’s mind at rest if their identity were to be revealed.
It will be noted that there has been a public clamor for the government to identify those responsible for the violence in the east, and particularly in Benghazi, not least to reduce the amount of wild speculation and conspiracy theories as to who exactly is behind the violence.
The state’s inability or unwillingness to reveal who is responsible for the wave of assassinations and bombings in the city of Benghazi has led to some wild speculation that some organs of the state may be implicated. The fact that the state has not presented any conclusive facts as to who is responsible has not helped in limiting or reducing any of this speculation.
Zeidan, however, disagreed with the premise of the question, that it may ease the general public’s mind, saying that he did not think that revealing identities “would help the situation”.
However, he said that “when and if” he needed to name people, he “would”. [/restrict]
