By Libya Herald reporter.
Tripoli, 23 November 2016:
Controversial grand mufti Sadik Al-Ghariani has accused Libyan followers of Saudi cleric Rabee Al-Madkhali of being spies and would-be assassins acting on behalf of unnamed Arab Gulf countries. He also claimed they were allies of what what he described the war criminal “ Khalifa Hafter”.
The accusation follows reports that one of the members of his Dar Al-Ifta (the “Fatwa House”), Sheikh Nadir Al-Omrani, was murdered in a sectarian killing by Madkhali followers.
Omrani was seized by an unknown armed group on 6 October and one man, named as Haithem Al-Zintani and who says he is a Madkhali follower, has supposedly confessed to being involved in his abduction and murder.
“These people are receiving instructions from some Arab Gulf states to kill Libyan clerics”, Ghariani said on his weekly programme this afternoon on Tanaseh TV owned by the Dar Al-Ifta.
He also accused them of having been loyal to Qaddafi until the last minute and of now serving the interests of the House of Representatives in Tobruk and Field Marshal Khalifa Hafter in Marj.
So far there has been no confirmation that Omrani has been killed; his body has not yet been found. Al-Zintani said that the body was buried at a certain location in the south Tripoli suburb of Esbiaa. But, so far, nothing has been found there.
That has not stopped the Dar Al-Ifta from suspending 15 imams associated with Madkhali from mosques in Tripoli. It has also banned books containing the views of the Saudi cleric or his followers such as Egyptian cleric Mohamed Raslan.
Meanwhile there are unconfirmed reports of preparations being made by forces loyal to Ghariani, notably by Wisam Ben Hamid and some Misratans, to attack Rada (“Deterrence”) forces at their premises at Mitiga air base.
