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By Libya Herald reporter.
Tripoli, 29 May 2017:
The Dar Al-Ifta (“Fatwa House”), headed by controversial grand mufti Sadik Al-Ghariani, says that its headquarters in Tripoli were broken into last night and equipment stolen, the third such incident in the past two months.
The break-in was politically motivated, it claims. In a statement today, it says that when the thieves left, they put a chain and padlock on the entrance – something only security forces would have done, it suggests. It also says that men in military uniforms were seen by witnesses getting out of a car blazoned with a Central Security Tripoli Branch logo before they broke into the headquarters.
They are built in the grounds of the former royal palace and were appropriated by the organisation after the 2011 revolution.
The Dar Al-Ifta also complains that after the previous two break-ins, it informed the Tripoli security directorate and the interior ministry, sending CCTV footage of what happened, but that nothing was done.
Although the Dar Al-Ifta has consistently rejected the Presidency Council (PC) and its government of national accord (GNA) as illegitimate, it says it holds the GNA responsible for the attacks on the basis that its forces have power on the ground in Tripoli. It apparently believes the aim of the attacks is to force it to close, something it says it will never do.
It further points out that its staff have received no salaries from the government for over a year.
Ghariani himself has made no attempt to conceal his support for groups opposed to the PC and the GNA. He has backed the Benghazi Defence Brigades, which the PC condemned as terrorists last year, and is a close ally of Khalifa Ghwell and the rump of the former General National Congress which themselves again tried to topple the PC last weekend, but failed.
