Operation Oil Theft: Month 17, Week 2, Day 1.

On Sunday June 3rd (3/6/12) the al-Awfea militia seized control of Tripoli International Airport demanding the release of one of their members who had been arrested by the National Transitional Council (NTC). They seemed to be trying to copy the example set by the Zintan Brigade militia who used control of the airport as a bargaining chip to force the NTC to try Saif al-Islam Qaddafi in Libya rather then hand him over to the International Criminal Court (ICC). On this occasion though the NTC were having none of it and quickly used force to successfully regain control of the airport. To my mind that was the correct course of action to take because Libya has no chance of becoming the stable and prosperous nation it should be if the soon to be elected government are constantly being forced to negotiate with armed but unelected militias and warlords.

This apparent change of approach by the NTC has got the Zintan Brigade worried that now they no longer control the airport the NTC might hand Saif al-Islam over to the ICC anyway. In response on June 7th (7/6/12) the Zintan Brigade arrested Melinda Taylor, a lawyer who'd been appointed by the ICC to represent Saif al-Islam, on a trumped up charge of passing him a letter from a friend. As Ms Taylor's detention has continued the Zintan Brigade have gone on to claim that the letter contained GPS co-ordinates for the location of Mohamed Ismail and they will release Ms Taylor as soon as she gives them Mr Ismail's location. I simply do not believe this because as a prisoner of the Zintan Brigade Saif al-Islam would have no need to know Mr Ismail's location and if, as the Zintan Brigade claim, the letter contains the co-ordinates of Mr Ismail's location they do not need Ms Taylor to tell them that location. Instead I think the Zintan Brigade are simply making the whole thing up and effectively holding Ms Taylor as a hostage in order to force the ICC to give up it's right to try Saif al-Islam.

Also the fact that the Zintan Brigade seem to think that the passing of a letter is a legitimate reason to arrest a lawyer is deeply worrying. In order to mount the defence needed for a fair trial the accused has the right to speak to their lawyer in private safe in the knowledge that the content of those conversations will not be passed onto their prosecutors/jailers. This is known as attorney-client privilege. Prisoners whether convicted or not also have the right to send and receive letters to people in the outside world. The fact that the Zintan Brigade are not aware of things like this only leaves me more convinced that Saif al-Islam will not receive anything even vaguely resembling a fair trial in Libya.

On June 4th (4/6/12) the Libyan born Al-Qaeda second in command Abu Yahya Al-Libi was apparently killed in a US drone strike in northern Pakistan. On June 6th (6/6/12) an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) exploded outside US diplomatic offices in Benghazi. A Jihadist group calling themselves the Imprisoned Omar Abdul Rahman Brigades immediately claimed responsibility for the attack as revenge for the killing of Al-Libi. The US immediately denied this claiming that there was no evidence linking the attack to the group and the Jihadists were only claiming responsibility in order too boost their profile. Now this could be the case or it could be the US trying to cover up the fact that by intervening in Libya they succeeded in turning the south-west of the country into a hot-bed for Al-Qaeda activity and given the group effective control over a country in the size of France in Azawad/northern-Mali. Since the US denial there has been a wave of similar attacks including an IED blast at offices of International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Misrata on 12/6/12 and a Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) attack on a convoy carrying the British Ambassador Sir Dominic Asquith in Benghazi on 11/6/12. These attacks seem to be linked to the multitude of foreign intelligence agencies that still operate freely throughout Libya and are trying to put pressure on the US to clarify their position on the June 6th attack.

Against this chaotic background the NTC have postponed the election for the National Congress (Parliament) that had been scheduled for June 19th (19/6/12) due to what I think are legitimate logistical and security problems. The election will now be held on July 7th (7/7/12). My understanding is that voter registration for this election has now closed so any Libyan who has not yet registered will not be allowed to vote. However I wouldn't get too worried about this because I suspect there will be another election in about a year as Libyans gain experience in government and democracy.

A good example of the progress they are making was the Supreme Court's decision on June 14th (14/6/12) to strike down Law 137. The so-called "anti-glorification law" Law 137 made it illegal for anyone to praise Muammer Qaddafi, his sons, his ideas or his regime. Although I'm not particularly bothered whether anyone praises Qaddafi or not in terms freedom passing a law banning people from praising Qaddafi is no different from passing a law saying people must praise him. The fact that the Libyan courts are beginning to think in these terms shows that they are moving away from the attitudes of the war years and towards the values of democracy and freedom.