By Abdulkader Assad

The Head of the High Council of State (HCS) Abdelrahman Al-Sweihli protested in a letter to the Foreign Minister Mohammed Sayala the statement delivered by the Libyan ambassador to the United Nations Al-Mahdi Al-Mijrbi, saying it did not speak of the horrible crimes committed in eastern Libya lately.

Al-Sweihli added that the Libyan ambassador did not mention the massacres of Al-Abyar and Derna, saying such a negligence is considered a disregard of the lives of the men, women and children killed in those incidents.

“His statement did not live up to the demands of the Libyan people, who are waiting for seeing the criminals, who have been committing the war crimes over the last months, punished. Yet, he alleged that Libyan judiciary can impose punishment and law on those criminals, which is untrue.” Al-Sweihli explained.

He added that the UN Security Council should hold an exceptional meeting to review the war crimes committed in Derna and Al-Abyar, Benghazi, remaking that he thought the “government of accord” would present a formal letter to the UN Secretary General so he can inform all ambassadors to tackle the issue at the UN Security Council.

“I was shocked to see that the Libyan ambassador to the UN was defending war crimes perpetrators and demanding the ICC not to interfere in the case, knowing very well that Libya’s judiciary is totally crippled.” Al-Sweihli further remarked, demanding an explanation by Sayala for the “obliviousness” of the Libyan ambassador, saying things should be cleared out after he receives the letter.

In the meantime, several members of the House of Representatives (HoR) strongly condemned the statement of Al- Mijrbi and his negligence of the crimes, saying his speech was shameful and disgraceful.

They also called – in a statement – on the Head of the Presidential Council, Fayez Al-Sirraj and Mohammed Sayala to investigate the incident.

Several other denouncing statements were issued by public and civil societies, considering the statement of the ambassador shameful and disappointing as he looked deliberately away when the subject of massacres and war crimes in his country were discussed at the UNSC by foreign ambassadors.

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