By Ajnadin Mustafa.
Cairo, 12 September 2017:
Departmental heads at the Presidency Council’s (PC) general authority for culture protested today at its offices in Tripoli’s Shara Mizran against the closure last week of the Dar Al-Fagih Hassan centre in the Old City and other assaults on cultural institutions.
The protestors, who were joined by culture officials from other municipalities, condemned the action taken by Tripoli’s Rada (“Deterrence”) force which last week forcibly closed the centre and ejected staff because of an earlier book signing for the controversial Sun on Closed Windows. It has been accused of containing obscene materiel.
The protestors said that the group did not have the authority to close the centre and that the incident damaged the Libya’s image and usurped the role of the authority. They also supported the right to self-expression providing it was within legal boundaries.
Meanwhile the head of intelligence for Khalifa Ghwell’s so-called government of National Salvation” (GNS), Mustafa Nuh, has waded into the row telling the authority that it was not allowed to hold any futher events at the building without first obtaining his permission. At the moment he is based in Misrata.
The authority is unlikely to heed his demand but dealing with Rada is a different matter and the doors of the centre still remain padlocked.
The authority is meanwhile embroiled in in its own internal row. On Sunday staff at the authority’s main headquarters in Tripoli’s Falah district demanded the replacement of its director, Hassan Wanis, claiming maladministration.
There is growing fear among Libyan civil society activists and others that freedom of expression and opinion – freedoms gained with the 2011 revolution – are now under intense attack in both the east and west of the country. In Benghazi, the Tanarout centre for arts has had to close because of harassment by locals. The Marj journalist Hussein Rajab, who was arrested for criticising Major General Abdul Razzaq Al-Nazhuri, the LNA’s chief of staff, has now been released, but the incident has sent clear signals that the military authorities in the east will not tolerate dissent.
