Political battle in Libya reaches Supreme Court
The eastern-based House of Representatives has launched an offensive on the judiciary that threatens to politicize one of the sectors of the country that had been able to remain to some extent outside the national rifts and that could turn the conflict very legal in nature.
Effectively opening a new front in Libya’s deepening rift, a new, contested president of the country’s highest judicial authority was sworn in Sept. 18 before the powerful speaker of the eastern-based House of Representatives, Aguila Saleh, in a move that threatens to further entrench the conflict by politicizing yet another key institution.
The ceremony came after Libya’s parliament approved a week earlier the appointment of Abdullah Burazizah to replace Mohamed al-Hafi, who has held the post until now. Yet the vote, reportedly unanimous, came during an opaque session held at the chamber’s headquarters in Tobruk that was embroiled in controversy over a likely lack of quorum.
