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By Libya Herald staff.
Benghazi, 25 June 2014:
Benghazi women’s rights activist and lawyer Salwa Bugaighis was murdered this evening by five gunmen . . .[restrict]who broke into her home in the city’s Hawari district and shot her in the head.
She was rushed to Benghazi Medical Centre but died shortly afterwards. She is also said to have stabbed several times.
A gardener was also said to have been shot in the attack; he is recovering. Her husband, Essam Al-Ghariani, recently elected to Benghazi Municipal Council is missing, presumed kidnapped.
She had earlier returned home after voting in today’s elections and put pictures on her Facebook page of herself casting her vote today. She was then on Al-Nabaa TV for a few minutes at around 6pm speaking about clashes in the city which she said she could see from her house between security forces and an Islamist brigade. She urged people to go out and vote
The killing has shocked Benghazi where she and her sister Iman were prominent supporters and activists in the revolution from its very beginning. A former member of the National Transitional Council, she was more recently involved in planning the move for national dialogue in the country. However, her support for women’s rights made her a vocal opponent of not only Islamic extremists but also of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Grand Mufti. She was against the hijab, insisting it was not Islamic, and rarely even wore a headscarf.
She had received a number of death threats which she ignored but after a reported attempt to kill her son earlier this year went abroad with the entire family. Nonetheless, she said at the time that nothing would stop her speaking out about women’s rights.
It is not known who killed her, but militant Islamists are being blamed. She had just returned to Libya with her husband to both vote in the elections and for him to take up his duties on Benghazi Municipal Council. It is thought that her TV appearance may have alerted her killers to the fact that she was back in Benghazi. [/restrict]
