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By Libya Herald Staff.
Tripoli, 7 April 2014:
A group of 30 members of the General National Congress (GNC) has demanded the resignation . . .[restrict]of Congress head Nuri Abu Sahmain, over leaked video footage relating to an incident earlier this year.
The video shows Abu Sahmain being interrogated by an unknown person and admitting that two women visited his home one evening in January. Both he and the GNC denied the incident and Abu Sahmain’s alleged arrest at the time.
In the televised statement aired yesterday, the 30-strong group said that Abu Sahmain had lost the confidence of the Libyan people after lying about the events of that night. They insisted that, if he did not resign, Congress would consider relieving him of his duties.
The group also claimed that Abu Sahmain had overstepped his jurisdiction when he threatened federalists occupying eastern oil ports with a military offensive.
A source at the GNC, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Libya Herald that, because of the incident, some members felt that decisions made by Abu Sahmain no longer carried any authority.
Some Congress members felt so strongly about this they had boycotted recent sittings headed by Abu Sahmain, he added.
The Attorney General ordered an investigation into the incident, and the release of the video footage, the day after this was circulated on the internet.
This announcement, however, was then somewhat overshadowed by the Attoney General’s controversial decision to release three Libyans who allegedly forced rogue oil tanker the Morning Glory to sail into international waters loaded with a shipment of illicitly-obtained oil at gunpoint. [/restrict]
