By Ahmed Elumami.
Tripoli, 8 December 2013:
Ansar Al-Sharia has lashed out at the General National Congress over the statement overwhelmingly passed by . . .[restrict]it four days ago saying that the Sharia was the “only source for legislation in Libya” and “above the constitution”.
Accusing Congress of playing political games, Ansar said that the “manoeuvre” was an attempt to confuse supporters of the Sharia and appease a Libyan public which was demanding its implementation.
The Congressional statement contained no commitment or obligation, continued Ansar, claiming that it was only “ink on paper”. Comparing it to Qaddafi, it said that he had similarly stated “that the Quran is the law of society” but had never made it so.
Dismissing Congress as a “worthless” body, Ansar said it was ridden with contradictory agendas – Islamist, secularist and nationalist. The Sharia overrode them all.
“It is clear that the Ansar Al-Sharia group does not understand the Congressional statement on the Sharia at all,” GNC spokesman Omar Hemidan, told the Libya Herald.
Ansar was “fishing in troubled waters”, Hemidan said, insisting thatr that there was no reason to criticise the statement.
The vote was a moral obligation, not a legal matter, said Hemidan. What the vote was saying, he explained, was that Congress could not issue any laws or resolutions that were against the Sharia. [/restrict]
