By Libya Herald staff.
Tripoli, 22 October 2014:
The Libyan government has called on the House of Representatives to remove Grand Mufti Sheikh Sadik Al-Ghariani and hold him accountable for his inflammatory attacks on the armed forces and the legal authorities, saying that such a move was necessary in order to preserve Libya’s security and stability. It called statements by him inflammatory and divisive.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the government said that the cleric’s most recent speech had been filled with inaccuracies and accusations, such as his assertion that the HoR was “scouring capitals of the world” with the goal of forming international alliances for military intervention in Libya.
Ghariani has also called for civil society organisations to join with the armed groups and extremists that have been operating outside the authority of the legitimate government, the statement said.
The Grand Mufti had been appointed by the government but now he was trying to undermine its authority, the statement went on to say. “We cannot continue to allow this divisive man to stay in his position,”
A religious leader had to be the first person to call for reconciliation, the statement added.
The National Commission for Human Rights (not the same as the National Council of Civil Liberties and Human Rights) has meanwhile also reissued a call for the HoR to sack Ghariani and for him to be put on trial by the International Criminal Court as a war criminal for “inciting murder, torture and violation of human rights”.
Ghariani has been increasingly belligerent in his opposition to the government, the HoR and the forces ranged against the Benghazi Revolutionaries Shoura Council in the east and Libya Dawn in the west, calling on the BRSC and Libya Dawn to smash them “with an iron fist”.
Ghariani was summoned by the HoR for a hearing in August to explain himself but never showed up in Tobruk. There have been repeated reports that the HoR is ready to sack him and had agreed in principle to do so. However, a number of HoR members are said to be worried about the consequences of doing so at this point in time.
Yesterday, in his latest foray into the political cauldron, Ghariani warned Egypt that it would face serious consequences as a result of bombing Libya. He was referring to the air strikes last week in Benghazi which were initially blamed by pro-Libya Dawn supporters on Egypt although photos of the aircraft in action subsequently showed them to be Libyan. [/restrict]
