A court in Sebha has overturned the electoral commission’s decision to nullify Saif al-Islam’s candidacy for December polls. The court reinstated Saif al-Islam Gaddafi as presidential candidate
A week after being disqualified for what Libyan authorities said were “war crimes committed during the uprising against his father, a decade ago,” the second son of Libya’s former ruler Muammar Gaddafi has been given the go-ahead to run in the country’s upcoming presidential election.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi’s lawyer, Khaled al-Zaydi, confirmed on Thursday that the court in Sebha accepted his client’s appeal, lodged earlier in the day, and that he would therefore be reinstated in the presidential election scheduled to take part later this month.
In nullifying Gaddafi’s bid, Libya’s electoral commission pointed to articles of the electoral law stipulating that candidates “must not have been sentenced for a dishonourable crime” and must present a clean criminal record.
The United Nations-led peace process insists on “inclusive” and “credible” elections starting on December 24 in the North African country, despite concerns over how they should be held.
Libya is seeking to move beyond a decade of violence that has dogged the oil-rich nation since a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed Gaddafi senior in 2011.
Gaddafi, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes, had registered to run on November 14 but was among 25 candidates whose bids were rejected by the elections board last week.
Gaddafi, who was sentenced to death by a Tripoli court in absentia in 2015 for war crimes committed during the failed battle to save his father’s 40-year rule from a NATO-backed uprising, is one of several divisive candidates in the race.
