By Ajnadin Mustafa.
Tripoli, 9 October 2015:
The ousted mayor of Central Tripoli, Mahdi Al-Harati has lost his appeal against his dismissal. He . . .[restrict]was fired this summer on the grounds of poor performance, not least in allowing the accretion of mountains of stinking rubbish throughout the capital.
The Tripoli appeal court accepted the argument of the local government ministry that there were no grounds for his reinstatement.
Harati was chosen by his eight fellow councillors in May 2014. In August, six of them voted for his removal. Harati sought to mount a legal challenge to their vote of no-confidence, but the ministry stepped in and, using what it said was a legal loophole, confirmed his ouster.
This week’s appeal against that action was a last ditch attempt to get his old job back. Harati was also ordered to pay the costs of the case. Before he went into local politics, he had been the commander of the Liwa Al-Ummah brigade, a militia in the Syrian revolution. [/restrict]
