By Jamie Prentis.
Tunis, 14 June 2017:
The list of individuals and organisations disputing their inclusion on the House of Representatives (HoR) “terrorist” list continues to grow. The latest is former deputy premier Awad Al-Barasi who has said he is “astonished” to find his name on the document. He has announced that he was consulting his lawyers.
Barasi was a deputy to Ali Zeidan but resigned in August 2013 accusing the then primer minister of ineffectiveness. At the time he was a member of the Justice and Construction Party (J&C), the political arm of the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood. However, he told the Libya Herald this March that he had quit politics and in 2015 severed his links with the J&C. Instead, he said, he was concentrating on his role as head of the Libya Peace Initiative which he said began this February and is seeking to bring all parties together and promote national reconciliation.
Barasi questioned why, at a time when he was embarked upon this effort, he should be branded a terrorist. He denounced and condemned the HoR and said he would hold it legally and morally responsible. He said his legal team had begun to file law suits in Libyan courts, both against the head of the HoR’s defence committee which drew up the the “terrorist” list and the media that had disseminated it.
He said many press and media outlets had published the list in a “defamatory manner without investigation”. In his view, this “politicisation” contradicted the basic press and media principles which obliged journalists to verify facts before publishing them.
Three days ago the J&C party also described the HoR’s terrorist claims as defamatory.
