By Ahmed Elumami.
Tripoli, 5 December 2013:
The General National Congress has voted in favour of a statement declaring that the Sharia can be . . .[restrict]the “only source for legislation in Libya”. All state bodies have been instructed to comply.
According to the statement, the Sharia is “above the constitution”, and all laws must be considered null and void that contravene it.
A Congressional committee was already in place to ensure that all legislation was Sharia-compliant, the statement said. Moreover, it added, the Justice Minister, Salah Marghani, had formed a committee in cooperation with Congress that included representatives from Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs and from the judiciary to review laws and determine what violates Islamic law.
Yesterday’s vote is not seen as fully legal since it was a statement, not a law, that was passed. But it demonstrates the mood of Congress and is expected to be widely adhered to. The vote was passed with no opposition and member rose afterwards and clapped.
The role of the Sharia is expected to be more precisely defined, as will other constitutional areas that Congress has pronounced on, when the still-to-be-elected 60-Constitutional Committee gets down to work in the new year. [/restrict]
