By Ahmed Elumami and Jamal Adel.
Tripoli, 8 January 2014:
The Ministry of Justice was today occupied by some thirty former prisoners demanding recognition and . . .[restrict]compensation for time served in jail under the former regime.
Justice Minister Salah Bashir Al-Marghani denied to the Libya Herald that there were any demonstrators. However, a ministry employee, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed a sit-in was underway.
He passed the phone to one protestor, Adilhadi Tahir Mahmoud, who said the group were former prisoners who served time for their involvement in a 1999 riot in Zawia. Some had served up to ten years for their participation in the riots, he said, and two had been given death sentences.
Mahmoud said the protestors had been accused of posing a threat to Qaddafi’s ‘Al-fatteh Revolution’ and denied a proper trial. “We’re peaceful and will continue to be so,” he said. “We only demand to be taken seriously and be considered and recognised like all other prisoners under the former regime.”
Mahmoud added that the group just wanted their rights to be met, and urged the Ministry of Justice to address their demands. [/restrict]
