The weekly newsletters : from 25 November to 1 December
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Egypt
- The reasons for the invalidity of the decision to grant judicial seizure to members of the “musical and acting professions”
- We publish the reasons for the unconstitutionality of the imprisonment penalty for those who engage in artistic work without a license
- A lawsuit to stop the decision to ban festival singers from singing
- “Media of Representatives” agrees to grant judicial control to artistic unions to confront festivals
At the request of the executive authority, the legislative power ignores the constitution and judicial rulings and turns the syndicates of art into a group for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
In a clear violation of Articles 67 and 76 of the Egyptian Constitution and in a complete disregard for the provisions of the administrative judiciary and the Constitutional Court, the Media Committee granted judicial control to technical unions, which undermines the freedom and independence of unions mentioned in the constitution.
It is noteworthy that a judicial dispute had previously occurred between a group of independent artists and the Syndicates of Acting and Musical Professions in 2016. The Administrative Court, headed by Counselor Ahmed El-Shazly, who passed away a few days ago, ruled that the decision of the Minister of Justice to grant some members of the Syndicates of Musical Professions and Acting Professions the status of Judicial police for crimes that occur in violation of the Syndicate’s and the Federation of Syndicates of Acting, Film and Musical Professions’ law, whether in their capacity as syndicates or as public officials, given that the independence of syndicates is a recognized constitutional principle, the court also ordered the suspension of the two calls and referred them to the Supreme Constitutional Court to determine the constitutionality of Article 23 (in its last paragraph) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, as well as determining the constitutionality of Articles 5 (fourth paragraph) and Article 5 bis of the law establishing unions and federations of acting, cinematic and musical professions.
Only three months ago, the Constitutional Court issued a ruling in Case No. 66, announcing the unconstitutionality of Article 5 bis of Law No. 35 of 1978 regarding the establishment of syndicates and the union of the acting, cinematic and musical professions, as amended by Law No. 8 of 2003, regarding what was stipulated concerning the penalty of imprisonment within the scope of its application to the text of the second paragraph and the last part of the fourth paragraph of Article (5) of the same law, and all other requests were rejected.
With regard to the decision issued by the Syndicate of Musical Professions to prevent festival singers from singing in Egypt, the lawyer Hani Sameh, filed a lawsuit before the Administrative Court of the Second Circuit for Syndicates bearing No. 14037 to cancel the decision, the lawsuit was based on the invalidity of the ban on the violation of administrative and constitutional legality, restricting the freedom of musical creativity and imposing certain types of singing and music.
- The Media Committee of the House of Representatives, headed by Dr. Doria Sharaf El-Din, finally approved Article 70 bis of the two bills submitted by the government to amend some provisions of Law No. 35 of 1978 regarding the establishment of unions and the union of federations of acting, cinematic and musical professions, which ensures the judicial control of artistic unions. Article 70, as approved by the committee at its last meeting, states: “The Minister of Justice, in agreement with the competent captain, issues a decision to determine those who have the capacity of judicial police in implementing the provisions of this law.”, the committee considered each of the captains of the artistic syndicate, headed by Hani Shaker, the head of the Musicians’ Syndicate, and Ashraf Zaki, the captain of the actors, that granting them the capacity of judicial police by a decision of the Minister of Justice is a weapon for them to confront what the committee described as “the shame of festivals,” stressing that withdrawing this status from the captains of professional and artistic syndicates will be motivate the syndicates to join hands to organize work in the artistic, cultural and social area, noting that the Musicians' Syndicate is still working on controlling what is presented on the artistic scene. The Media Committee has approved Article 5 bis of the two draft laws submitted by the government regarding the amendment of some provisions of Law No. 35 of 1978 regarding the establishment of unions and the Federation of Syndicates of Acting, Film and Musical Professions, which includes a fine of 20,000 pounds for those who work without a permit in the arts of theater and cinema.
Confronting Corona is a priority for the executive authority
- Starting from December 1, government agencies and authorities began to prevent citizens who were not vaccinated from entering their headquarters, in implementation of the decision of the Supreme Committee for Corona Crisis Management, to prevent citizens who did not obtain the Corona virus vaccine or at least the first dose of it, or a recent PCR certificate from entering the government’s bodies.
- President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi issued Law 152 of 2021 regarding procedures for confronting epidemics and health pandemics. This law allows the Prime Minister, after the approval of the Council of Ministers, in the event of epidemics or health pandemics, to issue a decision to take any measures deemed as necessary to confront these dangers in a manner that preserves public health and safety.
The administrative Control expose the president of Damanhour University in a corruption case
- The Administrative Control Authority arrested the President of Damanhour University, Dr. Obaid Saleh Obaid, and others, on charges of receiving sums of money for bribery, amounting to 4 million Egyptian pounds, approximately (255,000 dollars), in exchange for facilitating the receipt of supplies from some suppliers dealing with the university, and the Supreme State Security Prosecution ordered the detention of the President of Damanhour University for 4 days pending investigations conducted by the Supreme State Security Prosecution under the supervision of the Advocate General of the Supreme State Security Prosecution.
The judiciary expands the implementation of the death penalty
- The Court of Cassation upheld the death sentence of Muhammad Owais and 21 other members of a terrorist organization, after rejecting the appeals submitted by them and issued by the Supreme State Security Criminal Court, and punishing 118 others with life sentence, in the assassination of Muhammad Mabrouk, an officer in the National Security Sector, and the commission of 53 other terrorist attacks, and in a report by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, Egypt witnessed 20 death sentences during the month of October alone, and the initiative indicated that there are 15 other defendants whose papers were referred to the Mufti in 12 different cases.
An investigative clarifies the French government’s involvement in supporting the Egyptian government with espionage systems
- The French investigative website “Disclose” published a new episode of the series of investigations, "Egypt Papers", under the title "Monitor Made in France". In this series, of which four episodes have been published, “Disclose” relied on hundreds of secret French military documents obtained through a sources, and the new episode revealed that three French companies transferred spyware technology to the Egyptian government and aimed at collecting information collectively from communications networks in Egypt, and according to hundreds of documents obtained by “Disclose”, In its joint investigation with Télérama, Nexa1 Technologies won a €11.4 million contract in 2014 to install internet monitoring software called Cerebro, while Ercom-Suneris won a nearly €15 million contract in the same year to install a bugging and geolocation device called Cortex vortex. Contracting with the giant French arms company Dassault Système to provide a search program and access to information to link the data to be collected to the Egyptian national database and also the giant French arms company Dassault Système was also contracted to provide a search and access program to link the data to be collected to the Egyptian national database. In a previous episode of "Egypt Papers", under the title "At the Service of Arms Sales", it was revealed that the French state had spared its diplomats and kept them away from the scene of relations with Cairo, the scene was led by the former Minister of Defense and now the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian.
Fining Hossam Bahgat for insulting the National Elections authority
- Cairo Economic Court fined Hossam Bahgat, director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, 10,000 Egyptian Pounds ($650) for insulting the National Elections Authority through a post on his Twitter account, Hossam Bahgat was charged with 3 charges in case No. 1834 of 2021, the first of which is that he publicly insulted the National Elections Authority by publishing on his private pages on the social networking sites "Facebook" and "Twitter", phrases and words that presented a challenge to the work of the National Elections Authority, and that its work regarding the supervision and follow-up of the 2020 Parliament’s elections included fraud that led to a difference in the announced election result.
It is noteworthy to mention that Bahgat is banned from traveling and a decision was issued to freeze his money on the grounds of foreign funding, and the US State Department condemned Bahgat’s trial and detention at the time, by saying: “We informed the Egyptian government of our deep conviction that individuals like Hossam Bahgat should not be targeted because of their peaceful expression of their views.”
The start of the student union elections marathon and the candidacy of female students reached 45% of the total applicants for candidacy
- Egyptian universities are witnessing student union elections at the college level, 26,793 male and female students applied to run for the student union elections for the year 2021/2022, distributed as follows: (14,583 male students, 12210 female students), before the dismissal of the appeals, which may exclude a limited number of these candidates and applicants at the university level.
Epidemiological situation
- The Ministry of Health and Population announced that, within a few days, they will start implementing the ministry’s plan to vaccinate some groups of citizens, with a third booster dose of vaccines against the Corona virus, and the official spokesperson of the Ministry of Health and Population explained that the groups that will be vaccinated with the "third dose", will include the elderly, people with chronic diseases, and groups most vulnerable to infection, such as workers in the medical sector.
- Adviser to the Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, for health affairs, confirmed that no cases of infection with the “Omicron” variant have been recorded in Egypt so far, and the question of whether or not it entered is a matter of time, and we are working to reduce its infection as much as possible.
- The Ministry of Health announced that the total number that was registered in Egypt with the Corona virus is 358,578, including 297,536 cases that have been cured, and 20,474 deaths.
Tunisia
Rights Newsletter
Unemployed people continue their protests against Saied’s statements and threaten to escalate
Several regions of the Republic are witnessing protest movements for the unemployed in the context of “a day of national outrage”, denouncing the President’s recent statements about the failure to promulgate Law No. 38 of 2020 on exceptional assignments for those whose unemployment has been prolonged.
In Tataouine, several holders of high degrees whose unemployment has been prolonged, staged a protest in front of the state office, during which they denounced the President’s decision.
The protesters demanded clarification of the background of the decision, despite the publication of the aforementioned law in the official gazette. They affirmed that they will continue the protests until their demands are met and the law is enforced.
In Sousse, a number of the unemployed staged a vigil in front of the state office, calling on the President of the Republic to retract his recent statements and promulgate the Law No. 38 or find an alternative so long as it is in the public office or the public sector.
Bilal Zayan, the coordinator of the sit-in of the unemployed in Sousse, told “Mosaique” yesterday that they would escalate and engage in a hunger strike if their demands were not met in the next few days.
The same was repeated in Siliana, where a number of unemployed graduates protested from the Coordination of the “mandate is my right” in front of the state office, expressing their rejection of the decision to cancel the adoption of Law No. 38, calling on the relevant authorities not to retract the agreement and implement all its provisions, threatening to escalate and engage in open sit-ins.
The city of Sfax witnessed a pause in front of the state office for the unemployed to demand the promulgation of the law, pointing out that this law was found in order to be implemented and to solve the problems of the unemployed holding high degrees who were waiting for their justice after the enactment of this law before the Presidency of the Republic surprised them by retracting about it, which turned out to be a disappointment.
The protesters expressed their rejection of the establishment of family companies and that there is no going back and they will not remain silent in the continuation of their grievance.
Civilians before military courts..because of opinions and blogs!
The Executive Office of the National Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists, during its meeting on Wednesday, November 24, 2021, drew attention to the continuation of political, civil and military trials, journalists, media professionals and opinion-holders, against the background of opinions and blogging, in a serious threat to freedom of expression in Tunisia and the subjugation of state agencies to silence offenders.
The members of the syndicate renewed the call for the necessity of all judicial follow-ups related to publication within the meaning of Decree 115, stressing once again its absolute rejection of prosecuting civilians before military courts based on their opinions.
The Executive Office also demanded to stop the trial of journalist “Shatha Haj Mubarak” and media journalist “Amer Ayyad”, and refer them to the meaning of Decree 115.
Judgment to cancel the extraordinary conference of the Tunisian Labor Union .. What does it mean?
The Court of First Instance in Tunis ruled that the decision issued by the National Council of the Tunisian General Labor Union (the largest trade union organization), held on August 24, 25 and 26, called for an exceptional non-elective conference to be held.
The court charged the defendant with legal expenses, who is the legal representative of the Tunisian General Labor Union, and the judgment issued in the first instance remains subject to appeal.
A number of unionists, most notably the unionist “Monia ben Nasr Al-Ayadi” and the unionist “Misbah Sheneeb”, had filed a lawsuit to annul the upcoming conference of the union, considering it illegal and inconsistent with the organic law of the union.
The conference was held at that time in light of major divisions known to the Labor Union, and prominent leaders rejected this conference and considered it illegitimate, with the emergence of two splits within the organization: a split for Secretary-General “Noureddine Taboubi”, and another vehemently opposed to it.
For his part, commenting on the judgement, the General Secretary of the General University for Secondary Education, “Lasaad Al-Yaqoubi” (a prominent competitor to “Nour El-Din Al-Taboubi”), said that the court’s decision “confirms that we were not sabotaging, not looking for sites at the expense of the organization, or bypassing the frameworks.”
https://www.facebook.com/lassad.yakoubi/posts/4565302740217414
Al-Yaqoubi posted on his official page that “this decision proves what we have said that the National Council has no authority to call for an exceptional, non-elective conference, and that this conference does not exist in the law of the union.”
Al-Yaqoubi called on the rival faction in the union to “not be stubborn and appeal as well as retreat for the sake of the organization.”
The union comments
Commenting on the decision to invalidate the extraordinary conference, the Secretary-General of the Tunisian General Labor Union, “Noureddine Taboubi”, said in a radio statement: “We convened our National Assembly under a judicial ruling and today we continue to work in light of respect for judicial institutions and respect for their provisions.”
For his part, the officer in charge of legal affairs in the union, “Hafeez Hafeez”, said that “the initial ruling will not affect the work of the union’s structures in moving towards holding its conference on the 25th of February next.”
Hafeez stressed that “the ruling issued is a preliminary ruling that is subject to appeal, which renders it ineffective on the decisions of the union’s structures, all of which remain valid and legitimate.”
In a statement to the Official News Agency, Hafeez stressed that the union respects the judiciary rulings and its independence, and that the defense team will take the necessary legal procedures to appeal the aforementioned ruling within the deadlines.
It is noteworthy to mention that the union, when holding its extraordinary conference, approved the revision of Chapter 20 of the organic statute, according to which the opportunity was opened for members of the National Executive Office to run for more than two consecutive terms.
Following the termination of their mandate by the President of the Republic: retaining the governor of Sidi Bouzid and Kebli!!
On Thursday, November 25, 2021, the First Assistant to the Public Prosecutor and the official spokesperson for the Sidi Bouzid Court, “Jaber El-Ghonimi”, stated that the Public Prosecution of the Court of First Instance in Sidi Bouzid had authorized the retention of the current governor of Sidi Bouzid and the governor of Qibli on the grounds of suspicion of financial corruption and abuse of power, as well as, damage to administration.
Whistleblowers are subjected to abuse..the resumption of the Anti-Corruption Authority is necessary
The head of the Tunisian Organization for Development and Anti-Corruption, “Zubair Al-Turki”, confirmed during a press interview at the Tamimi Foundation headquartered in north Al-Omran, Saturday, November 27, 2021 that although some whistleblowers enjoy security protection or from the authority, after the suspension of the National Anti-Corruption Authority, some officials began to harass and abuse whistleblowers.
He added that despite President Kais Saied filtering out some elements of the Anti-Corruption Authority, which included what he described as “intruders” and “infiltrators” of the Authority, there are honest people as well, but despite that, disrupting the Authority represented a delay in deciding on several files, including what matters to the national security of whistleblowers and put them in a dangerous situation like several employees of the Authority.
“Zubair Al-Turki” called on the President of the Republic, Kais Saied, to authorize the urgent resumption of the work of the Authority, which includes honorable employees who work day and night and put their lives at risk, blaming the President of the Republic for the safety of whistleblowers and files, criticizing the appointment of the head of a partisan body that does not recognize the whistleblower protection law, according to his statement.
More than 15,000 calls are received annually through the Green Line 1899 to report cases of violence against women
The Green Line 1899 for reporting cases of violence against women, which is one of the mechanisms of the National Observatory to Combat Violence against Women, receives more than 15,000 calls annually and issues monthly and annual statistics.
The Green Line 1899 is a free line that covers the entire territory of the Republic and provides listening, guidance and direction services for the benefit of women victims of violence and a mechanism to monitor and follow up the phenomenon of violence to study and combat it with the statistics it produces. It works from 8:30 in the morning until midnight.
The Green Line sensibilzes women victims of violence of their rights and the administrative and judicial procedures that help them access justice, and guides them to the services available at various government structures and civil society components.
Calls are recorded while maintaining the confidentiality of personal data and recording them within a media application designed for the purpose through which statistics are extracted and the phenomenon of violence against women is monitored.
Regarding the requests of the victims that must be taken into consideration during the process of guidance and counseling according to Law No. 58 of 2017, the statistics indicate that 89 percent of the requests of the victims are related to listening only, and this explains the urgent need of the victims to raise their voices as a result of the severe effects of violence on the psyche of women and the need for recognition them as victims and their will to break the wall of silence.
It should be noted that the statistics of the Green Line are made available to the public and are not of a confidential nature and can be obtained as soon as they are requested by the concerned departments of the National Observatory for Combating Violence against Women until they are published on the observatory’s website, which is in the process of being completed.
The growing number of forcibly deported migrants from Italy
Yesterday, Monday, the Italian authorities deported 40 people from Palermo to Tunisia, according to “Majdi Al-Karbai”, a parliamentarian whose duties have been suspended from the Italian constituency.
It is noteworthy that deportations took place in November at a high rate, at a rate of two flights per week, and sometimes up to three flights, according to the same source.
Former MP “Majdi Al-Karbai” posted on his Facebook page that in the period between January and September 2021, 1159 Tunisians were deported from Italian territory, while only 516 Tunisians were deported during the month of November.
Al-Karbai added that the Italian authorities are conducting Covid analyzes on the deportees upon their arrival at Tabarka Airport, noting that the Tunisian state prevents rapid tests of arrivals to it.
It should be noted here that the Presidency of the Republic published, at the beginning of last September, on the occasion of Kais Saied’s supervision of receiving Italian aid with one and a half million doses of the Covid vaccine, that he warns against the political exploitation of this file (the irregular migration file).
Political Newsletter
The Administrative Court receives at least 15 appeals against Presidential Oder No. 117
The Administrative Court announced that it had received no less than 15 appeals against Presidential Order No. 117 issued on September 22, 2021, including appeals related to: the illegality of Presidential Order 117 in its entirety, appeals against some of its provisions such as the issue of lifting immunity and putting an end to grants and privileges granted to the members of the Assembly of the Representatives of the People, whose work has been suspended since July 25, and to announce the activation of Chapter 80 of the Constitution and to take exceptional measures.
Most of these appeals were submitted by parliamentarians whose work has been suspended, as confirmed by the official spokesman for the court, Imad Al-Ghabri, to the Tunis Africa News Agency today, Thursday, November 25, 2021. This is in addition to the National Assembly’s submission of appeals to the entire presidential order No. 117, and the Administrative Court conducts the necessary investigations regarding these appeals to decide on them and issue judgments on them.
It is noteworthy that the deputy and leader of the Democratic Party, “Nabil Hajji”, had announced in a radio interview yesterday his decision to file a complaint and challenge the decisions of the head of state to the Administrative Court, saying, “We will turn the case if necessary and we will carry out all forms of militating,” noting that the Tunisian constitution stipulates: The right to work in its provision number 40, but the President of the Republic, Kais Saied, prevented him from doing so and violated the constitution.
Announcing the “National Civic Alliance” against the coup in Tunisia
On Saturday, November 27, a group of activists in Tunisia announced the establishment of a civil alliance with the aim of “militating against the coup project espoused by Tunisian President Kais Saied, by all legitimate peaceful means in order to protect the gains of the Tunisian democratic experience and all its institutions.” According to what was stated by the spokeswoman for the Alliance, Ms. “Fawzriya Khodari”.
The Alliance spokeswoman and member of the Lawyers Association for Rights and Freedoms, Fawzia Khodari, added, during a press conference, that “the Alliance consists of a group of citizens who participated in all the movements rejecting the coup since the beginning of the procedures,” adding: “We sensed the imminent danger in implementing Article 80.” From the constitution, we felt that the reading was incorrect for the president’s justification for the coup against the government, which is a clear breach and a corrupt interpretation that has no constitutional or legal support in the simplest procedures of interpretation.”
She explained that “the Alliance participated in all platforms, movements, and experience proved that there is a lack of movements, especially because of their concentration in the capital, which made it difficult for citizens to move against the coup.”
Declaring that “all sides will be approached, and the coalition will support all social and political movements that concern economic, social, human rights or trade union to repel this coup.”
Regarding the components of the civil alliance, Khoudary said that “there has not yet been announced the parties participating in this alliance, including organizations and associations, considering that negotiations between them are still continuing to this day, despite their agreement on the founding statement and on the principle of anti-coup.”
Activist Buthaina Al-Abrouki read out the statement of the establishment of the Al-Madadi Alliance, which condemned “the coup against the regime carried out by the President of the Republic on July 25, 2021 and the unconstitutional decisions he took, especially Decree 117, affecting persons, institutions, bodies, all departments and state employees, and the accompanying arbitrary violation of the rights and freedoms of people and a threat to the gains and capabilities of the Tunisian people and their democratic experience.” According to the text of the statement.
The Alliance also condemned the “military trials of civilians, the arbitrary dismissals of state officials, and the harm of several social groups from populist practices, especially depriving them of their right to social coverage, led by representatives and the wounded of the revolution, targeting the press and journalists with arrests and closing private free channels.”
Belaid case: postponement of consideration to the month of March and the release of one of the detainees
The criminal department specialized in examining terrorism cases at the Court of First Instance in Tunis decided a short time ago to postpone consideration of the case of the martyr “Chokri Belaid” to a session on March 29, 2022.
The circuit chamber also decided to approve the demand for the release of the arrested accused, “Muhammad Al-Khayari”, and rejected the remaining demands for the release of three other defendants.
The release of former Minister of Agriculture Samir Beltayeb
The Assistant General Prosecutor of the Court of Appeal in Tunis and its spokesperson, Habib Tarkhani, confirmed to Mosaique that the indictment department specialized in financial corruption cases at the Court of Appeal in Tunis decided a short time ago to affirm the investigative judge’s decision to release former Minister of Agriculture Samir Beltayeb and three other employees accused with him in the case.
Tarkhani added that the indictment department agreed to release two defendants, not including Tayeb, in return for a financial guarantee of 50,000 dinars and 300,000 dinars for the second.
The circuit chamber also decided to prohibit travel for the four accused.
A joint statement by Tunisian parties condemning the statements issued by the Presidency and the appointments of loyalists
On Sunday, November 28, 2021, the Democratic Current, the Ettakatol Party and the Republican Party issued a statement following what was stated in the President of the Republic’s last speech during his meeting with the Minister of Interior.
The parties stated that the President of the Republic, Kais Saied, deviated from the constitution when he actually suspended it by virtue of Presidential Order No. 117, in which he assigned himself the power to issue decrees that are not subject to appeal, in a precedent unknown in the history of the Tunisian state.
They also denounced Saied’s last speech, “which, as usual, was fraught with tension and accusations against his opponents, deepening the division within society, emphasizing authoritarianism, and encouraging the discourse of defamation, distortion, and indecent assault that is prevalent among his supporters in the means of communication and the media.”
They considered that the internal division, weakening of institutions, paralyzing their work and striking the foundations of the participatory democratic system is what weakens the state and exposes its sovereignty and the independence of its decision to dangers.
They also expressed their concern about the uncertainty related to the amendment of the Finance Act of 2021 with regard to mobilizing resources and the significant delay in issuing the Finance Act for the year 2022, stressing that it is not possible to mobilize resources or create growth in light of uncertainty and exceptional measures.
They noted that “the singularity of government led to the adoption of appointments based solely on loyalty and involvement in the president’s jelly project without regard to competence, as confirmed by the recent list of governors, which threatens the work and efficiency of the state, perpetuates the mentality of opportunism, spoils and flattery, and deepens the gap between the state and its citizens.”
They pointed out that “the administration of the state cannot be by chanting slogans in the complete absence of any vision or program of work four months after Mr. Kais Saied has monopolized all powers,” and stressed the need for Tunisia to get out of the exceptional situation and retract the violation of the constitution to implement deep social and economic reforms that prevent the collapse that threatens it.
Libya
The parliament’s Internal Affairs Committee condemns the attack on the Sebha court
- The Internal Affairs Committee of the Libyan Parliament condemned the attack on judicial institutions, and the head of the Internal Affairs Committee expressed in a statement his strong condemnation of the attack on the Sebha Court and its closure, and that this is not only an attack on state institutions and a violation of public security, but rather a threat to the right of Libyans to political participation and it endangers the entire electoral process, and that these actions are punished by law and he stressed that it is necessary to hold the perpetrators accountable, in order to not to obstruct the work of State institutions in any way whatsoever, and he called out the Ministry of internal affairs to carry out its duties in securing the institutions, He once again called on everyone to support the Ministry of internal affairs to maintain public security and ensure the conduct of the electoral process.
Statements from officials about the possibility of postponing the date of the next elections
- The head of the Libyan High National Elections Commission, Imad Al-Sayeh, said that there is a possibility to postpone the elections until after December 24, and explained that there are political and technical obstacles, and he explained that technical obstacles are under the control of the commission that can control them through the timetable and logistical plans.
He continued, in televised statements, that the political obstacles are outside the control of the Commission, and we are working in an unstable and abnormal political environment, and we are trying to dissuade the forces rejecting the Libyan elections from their position, and that the possibility of postponing the elections is possible, in fact by the end of the appeals stage, they will know whether it is possible to adhere to December 24 as the date for the presidential elections or not, and that the Commission accepted from the beginning December 24 as the date for the elections, but there is the possibility to request an extension after the appeals process is completed, and that the electoral process aims to unify state institutions, moreover, Securing elections is an inherent specialty of the Ministry of internal affairs, and the said Ministry is working on developing a plan for that.
98 candidates had submitted their files to run in the upcoming Libyan presidential elections, and the Electoral Commission had excluded from its preliminary appealable list 25 candidates, including Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, who submitted an appeal against the decision and it was accepted, the initial list of candidates included the commander of the Libyan army, Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the head of Parliament Aqila Saleh, and the Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity, Abdel Hamid al-Dabaiba.
The Libyan Minister of Interior warned that the security breaches would harm the ability to hold the elections scheduled for next month, and said in a joint press conference with the Minister of Justice, that the widening of the violations and breaches would harm the security plan and it would reflect on the conduct of the electoral process.
The Appeals Chambers of First Instance and Appeals are still looking into the files of a number of currently excluded candidates, after appeals submitted by a number of people, and the door for submitting appeals is closed according to the timeline approved by the Commission within 72 hours of announcing the initial result, and the Libyan High Elections Commission announced that the total number of candidates for the election of the Parliament in all 13 electoral districts amounted to 2,974 male and female candidates, and it is scheduled to close the door for accepting applications for candidacy for the parliamentary elections on December 7, and candidates are competing for 200 seats in the individual system, including 33 seats reserved for women.
In the same context, the Tripoli Court of Appeals rejected two appeals against the candidate, Abdel Hamid Al-Dabaiba, and issued a ruling ordering his return to the list of candidates competing for the position of President of the State in the upcoming elections on December 24. Mrs. Kamel Al-Yaqoubi and member of the Political Dialogue Forum Ahmed al-Sharkasi appealed Dabaiba’s candidacy for violating Article 12 of the Presidential Election Law and for breaching his pledge made during the meetings of the Political Dialogue Forum in Geneva last February, and after the verdict was pronounced, Dabaiba’s lawyer said in a statement that the Tripoli Court of Appeal canceled the decision of the First Instance Appeals Committee to exclude Dabaiba from the list of candidates to elect the contested head of state and accepted the appeal submitted by his client as a form, so that Dabaiba could run in the presidential elections.
The statement of the Minister of internal affairs that there are security problems in securing the elections for some observers is attributed to the appeal submitted against the Prime Minister, Abdel Hamid al-Dabaiba, especially that the statement of the Minister of Interior came 24 hours before the ruling of the Tripoli Appeals Court, as if it was a message to the Libyan judiciary that there’s no election in the absence of Dabaiba.
The attack on the Sebha court and the accusation fingers point to Haftar … 5 + 5 succeeded in its meeting with neighboring countries in reaching an understanding on the withdrawal of mercenaries from Libyan territory
- The Libyan Interim Government announced that unknown persons attacked the Court of First Instance in Sebha (south) on Thursday morning, which prevented it from convening to consider an appeal submitted by Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi with the decision to prevent him from running in the presidential elections scheduled for next month, stressing that it had ordered to strengthen the security of the courts concerned with examining electoral appeals, and the government said in a statement that it "condemns what happened in the Sabha Court of First Instance of an assault on workers carried out by a group that violated the law," without specifying who this group is or to which group it belongs, and that as a consequence, instructions were issued to the Ministry of internal affairs and justice to immediately investigate into the circumstances and double the security of all the premises of the courts concerned with examining appeals related to the electoral process, both presidential and legislative, and called on all parties to respect the laws and the desire of Libyans to adopt the peaceful path of the political process. This attack coincides with an appeal submitted by Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi to the decision of the High National Elections Commission to exclude him from the list of candidates for the presidential elections, and the city of Sabha in southern Libya is under the control of forces loyal to Marshal Khalifa Haftar, and local media published a video clip in which the lawyer Khaled Al-Zaidi, Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi’s agent, claimed that the attack on the Sebha court came hours before it was held in a session to consider the appeal submitted by his client, however the court was attacked and all employees and judges were expelled while using force against them.
Many observers consider that the Tariq Ibn Ziyad Brigade is the party that surrounded the Sabha court, and the aim is to obstruct the court from looking into the appeal submitted by Saif Gaddafi’s lawyer, due to Khalifa Haftar’s fear of Saif Gaddafi returning to the election again, and there are unofficial statistics showing that Seif is expected to win the presidential elections if he is able to participate in the race.
- The Joint Military Committee in Libya 5 + 5 revealed that representatives of the African Union expressed their willingness to cooperate in order to expel mercenaries who hold African nationalities to their countries, and this decision came as a result of the meeting held between members of the Military Committee and representatives of the African Union in Tunisia, which concluded its work, in the presence of Representatives of the UN mission to Libya, and the talks focused on the mechanism and ways to permanently remove African mercenaries from Libyan lands, also the representatives of the African Union expressed their full readiness to coordinate and cooperate to ensure the exit of all mercenaries belonging to the countries of the Union from Libyan lands and to make sure that their countries receive them. This meeting came as a continuation of the Cairo meeting with representatives of the neighboring countries of Libya (Sudan, Chad and Niger), in which it adopted a vision with these countries to establish a mechanism for communication and coordination for the purpose of the exit of foreign mercenaries from Libyan territory, moreover this meeting was held in continuation of the meeting of the Joint Military Committee 5 + 5 in Geneva last October, and the adoption of an action plan for the exit of mercenaries and foreign forces from Libyan territory, and the number of mercenaries in Libya is estimated, according to the latest statistics of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and other sources, to be at 23,000 fighters from Libyan’s southern neighbor countries in addition to the Syrians
The countries of the north of the Mediterranean succeeded in forcing the countries of the south to play the role of police guards for their beaches
- A patrol supported by naval units from the Sea Army and the Tunisian Guard rescued 487 irregular migrants of different nationalities; Arab, Asian and African, including children. The Tunisian Ministry of Defense said in a statement that they rescued 162 from Egypt, 104 from Bangladesh, 81 from Syria, 78 from Morocco, 13 from Eritrea, 11 from Sudan, 7 from Somalia, 5 from Palestine, 5 from Ghana, 5 from Gambia, 4 from Pakistan, 4 from Sierra Leone, 3 from Mali, 1 from Chad, 1 from Guinea, 1 from Ethiopia, 1 from Nigeria and one Tunisian, their ages ranged between 3 and 42 years, including 13 women and 93 children, who were on a boat off the coast of Kerkennah, Sfax, and on Wednesday, the Tunisian naval army had received intel that a boat carrying more than 430 illegal immigrants sailed from the Libyan coasts with the intention of heading to European shores on the night between 23 and 24 November 2021, and they were taken to the sea fishing port in order to be handed over to units of the National Guard. In addition, on Thursday, the Libyan Coast Guard managed to rescue 112 irregular migrants of African and Arab nationalities, who were heading towards European shores on a rubber boat, and the Libyan Coast Guard received a distress call from the migrants, and they stated that all irregular migrants were handed over to the Anti-Irregular Migration Agency, after disembarking them at the Tripoli Naval Base.
China seeks to strengthen its economic and strategic situation through the gateway to the east of Libya
- Libya is preparing to return Chinese companies to work in Libya after a hiatus of more than 10 years and Hussein Attia Al-Qatrani, First Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity, received a delegation from the Chinese Construction Company Limited (CCCC) coming to Libya to coordinate with Dr. Nabil Al-Qatrani, the local partner and general coordinator, Al-Qatrani welcomed the delegation that came to the city of Benghazi to discuss the possibility of completing the projects that have been stalled for more than ten years, and expressed his full readiness to provide the appropriate environment for the company to return to work without any obstacles, he also stressed that China is a great country, and the Libyans look forward to establishing good trade relations with it and the Deputy Director General of CCCC expressed his happiness to be in the city of Benghazi, He also confirmed that he had instructions that the company should return to work in eastern Libya to complete the projects, and that the beginning would be the implementation of the project to build 5,000 housing units in the Suluq area, and then start to complete other projects, and the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) is a multinational engineering and construction company and it is primarily engaged in the design, construction and operation of infrastructure assets, including highways, bridges, tunnels, railways, subways, airports and seaports.
Before 2011, the company had signed three contracts to build a railway in Libya worth $4.237 billion. In the same context, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for International Cooperation and Organizations met with the one who’s in charge of the embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Libya, to discuss ways to enhance prospects for cooperation between the two friendly countries in the political, economic, and commercial field, and that the basis for strengthening areas of cooperation is based on two main pillars, namely the return of Chinese companies to complete work on their suspended projects in Libya since 2011, and the easing of restrictions on citizens and businessmen wishing to visit China, this will pave the way for building a strong partnership based on the distinguished historical relations that bind the two countries. The Chinese charged of affairs stressed during the meeting that his country is directly interested in the Libyan market due to its strategic location as an entrance to the African continent, and that China is seeking to establish huge investment projects on Libyan territory, in order to localize Chinese technology and industries in Libya for the purpose of benefiting from them locally and exporting them internationally.
Since last April, China has been seeking to restart its companies in Libya, as the government sent a delegation from Kimberly Capital Holdings, which specializes in global investment, and a group of Chinese government companies working in the fields of petroleum, architecture, bridge and bridge construction, oil ports, sea and infrastructure, to Libya to discuss the possibility of returning.
The murder of a Sudanese national in Benghazi and the disclosure of the remains of a policeman that were exhumed from the mass graves in Tarhuna
- Police men in Benghazi were able to uncover the mystery of finding the body of a Sudanese national in the city, only eight hours after the discovery of the incident, the beginning of the incident dates back to the investigations members of the Al-Sabri police station finding the body dumped near Souq Al-Arab, according to the directorate’s statement on its Facebook page, and it turned out that the dead man was working as a nurse at Jardis General Hospital, and he was a resident of the Ben Younes area, and he was frequented by a Libyan citizen, suspected of committing the crime and the accused confessed that the car belonged to the victim, and he was intending to sell it, so he tricked him into buying it, then lured him to the area near the Arab market, where he stabbed him with a knife in the top of the neck, and then fled away by car.
- Operation “Volcano of Rage” confirmed the official identification of a policeman whose remains were found in one of the mass grave sites in Tarhuna, according to what it published on its page, and that the remains belong to policeman Abdullah Muhammad al-Mahdi Muhammad, aged 30, who was found at the al-Qabinah site on Abdali Road in Tarhuna, and the source confirmed that the policeman, Abdullah Muhammad al-Mahdi was kidnapped by al-Kani militia from his home, and on November 17, the General Authority for Search and Identification of Missing Persons announced that the field teams specialized in the Department of Searching for Remains had exhumed two unidentified bodies from two locations in al-Qabinah in Tarhuna. .
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