It follows a violent interruption of a General National Congress meeting on 5 March by hundreds of protestors who attempted to coerce its members to enact the Political Isolation Law. President of the GNC, Mohammad Magarief was subjected to a gunfire attack as members were eventually allowed to leave the meeting.

On 7 March, a large group of unidentified men stormed the headquarters of Al-Assema TV, a private news channel in Tripoli, and abducted four men, including the owner of the station Jumaa Al-Usta, the former Executive Director Nabil Al-Shibani and journalists Mohammad Al-Houni and Mahmoud Al-Sharkassi.

While both journalists were released a few hours later, the whereabouts of Jumaa Al-Usta and Nabil Shibani remain unknown.

Information suggests the attack might have been carried out in retaliation for the channel’s broadcast of a discussion on the Political Isolation Law, a bill currently being debated in Libya’s parliament, which would exclude officials close to Gaddafi from positions of responsibility in Libya’s public institutions for a ten year period.

“Libyan parliamentarians say media should be allowed to debate and report on public interest issues without any restrictions and in safety,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Programme Director. “Jumaa Al-Usta and Nabil Al-Shibani should be released without delay.”

“While official statements condemning the attack make the right noises, the only way to truly protect freedom of expression in Libya is to investigate this incident and to rein in militias by implementing an effective disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programme.”

In its current form, the Political Isolation Law bars 36 categories of individuals who were directly responsible for the “corruption of political, economic, social and administrative life” in Libya during al-Gaddafi’s rule from holding positions of responsibility within public institutions for a period of ten years.

Provisions range from excluding members of the Revolutionary Command Council, to individuals who accumulated wealth at the expense of the Libyan people, or those that were engaged in scientific, scholarly, religious, cultural or social activity or production aiming at glorifying al-Gaddafi and his government.

Different drafts have either attempted to broaden or restrict the criteria for exclusion, highlighting current tensions over the law.

“We recognize how crucial it is to re-establish trust in public institutions in Libya after 42 years of repressive rule marked by human rights abuses,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Programme Director.

“However, we are concerned at the vague wording, extremely broad criteria for exclusion, and the lack of a review procedure make it impossible for those subjected to vetting to appeal the decision.

“A vetting procedure must not become a purge. Excluding from public service individuals responsible for human rights abuses is essential for protecting human rights, but under international human rights law, the Libyan authorities have a responsibility to also respect the rights of those subjected to the process.”

“In the interests of national reconciliation and long-term stability of the country, a mediated settlement is urgently needed,” the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), Tarek Mitri, said in a news statement, in regard to events in Bani Walid, located some 170 kilometres south of the capital, Tripoli.

According to media reports, Libyan army forces have launched a full-scale assault against the town, accusing it of being controlled by supporters of the former dictator Muammar al-Qadhafi, who was overthrown in 2011 after decades of autocratic rule.

The small city was one of the last to fall to rebels groups during last year’s conflict, and some are said to consider it a shelter for regime loyalists and criminal gangs. Fierce fighting has reportedly raged in the town for two days.

In addition to his concern over the military developments in Bani Walid, Mr. Mitri also spoke of his concern over growing civilian casualties resulting from reported indiscriminate shelling.

He urged all concerned to abide by international humanitarian principles, noting “their obligations to ensure the protection of civilians and take all necessary measures to avoid the targeting of civilian areas, allow for the evacuation of all wounded, and to provide unimpeded humanitarian access, including provision of food and medical care.”

Furthermore, in light of the publicly stated positions, the United Nations remains fully convinced that a comprehensive peaceful outcome is achievable, the statement noted.

This, it added, includes the right of the State to fully assert its national authority over the city of Bani Walid through the deployment of units from the national army and police; the immediate and unconditional release of all detainees who continue to be held inside Bani Walid; the handover to the judicial authorities of all those wanted on suspicion of having committed crimes, along with guarantees for their security and fair trial; the resumption of all basic services to the city; and, the holding of local elections in due course.”

Mr. Mitri emphasized, according to UNSMIL, the role and responsibility of the State in ensuring the security of all and extending its authority over its territory.

Incidents of renewed fighting in various parts of the country are among the security challenges facing the North African nation, which also needs to prepare a new constitution, promote rule of law, protect human rights, and counter illicit arms proliferation.

UNSMIL has been assisting the country’s transition toward a modern democratic State, after the toppling of the long-standing al-Qadhafi regime.

The UN envoy also praised the “huge efforts exerted by President Mohammad al-Magariaf, the General National Congress, as well as by civil society representatives and reconciliation committees, to prevent an outbreak of armed hostilities, and later, through political means, to put an end to various forms of violence.”

In addition, Mr. Mitri reaffirmed the world body’s readiness and commitment to work closely with all concerned to achieve a peaceful outcome to the violence.

“Ali Zidan is elected prime minister and is asked to propose a cabinet within two weeks,” Mohammed Megarief, president of the national assembly, said on television.

Ali Zidan, a former career diplomat and a human rights lawyer was elected with 93 votes, securing a majority of those who voted in a poll to determine the country’s leader for a transitional period of around 20 months.

Zidan, who had support from the leading liberal coalition, the National Forces Alliance, also suggested, however, that he was ready to take into account the views of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood in his government, according to Al Jazeera.

“Islam is our belief system and the source for any jurisprudence, and anything against sharia is refused,” he said.

Gaddafi kept Libya broadly secular, but the uprising which toppled him has paved the way for the emergence of both Islamist and more secular factions.

Ali Zidan defected in 1980 while he was serving at the Libyan embassy in India. He was a member of the opposition National Front for the Salvation of Libya, established in 1981 by dissidents abroad. He later became a Geneva-based advocate for human rights in Libya.

The election comes at a demanding time for Libya as it attempts to disarm rival factions and follows the death of US Ambassador Christopher Stevens in an attack on the US consulate in Benghazi.

The new central government urged the army to impose its authority by putting its own officers at the head of armed brigades that sprang up during the 2011 uprising against Muammar Gaddafi’s rule, AFP reports.

The announcement was made by Mohammed al-Megarief, the head of the Libyan national assembly, late on Saturday during a press conference.

The authorities also decided to put in place an “operations room” in Benghazi bringing together the army, forces of the interior ministry and defence ministry brigades comprising former rebels.

This move came after a mass protest on Friday against militias in Benghazi that lasted into early Saturday in which thousands stormed the headquarters of Ansar al-Shariah.

The violent takeover of the Benghazi stronghold of Ansar al-Sharia militia by local residents on Friday claimed at least 11 lives and left some 70 wounded, accoridng to Reuters.  Following the events in Benghazi Abu Slim and Ansar al-sharia militias in the city of Derna announced that they will withdraw form their bases.

Ansar al-Sharia group has been linked to the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi last week in which the US ambassador to Libya, and three other Americans died amid demonstrations against an anti-Islamic film.  The group denies any involvement in the killing of the US officials.

Libyan authorities have been struggling to assert authority over the militias and other armed groups that brought about Gaddafi’s fall in the 2011 revolt. The widespread proliferation of weapons became one the biggest threats to security in the whole region.

Libya’s National Transitional Council, which has ruled the country since last year’s uprising against Muammar Gaddafi, on Wednesday handed power to the new assembly.

Megarief a former diplomat who had lived in exile since the 1980s and led the Libyan National Salvation Front, , won with 113 votes in the General National Congress against liberal independent Ali Zidane, who got 85.

Crowds in central Tripoli celebrated after the handover, which was the first peaceful transition of power in Libya’s modern history since Gaddafi’s 4 decade rule.

Magarief, will head the 200-member congress, which is tasked with will naming a prime minister and passing laws until full parliamentary elections can be held under a new constitution.

The assembly was also set to pick two deputies for Magarief, who had been seen as a leading contender for the top job.

The peaceful transition came as a car bomb exploded near the offices of the military police in Tripoli in the early hours Saturday, in the first such attack in the Libyan capital since the start of a revolt that toppled the regime of Muammar Gaddafi.

Several violent incidents have rocked Libya in recent days Libya but these have been mostly confined to the eastern part of the country and included offices of military intelligence and the assassination of a former senior military officer, according to Reuters. 

In the new assembly, 80 seats are held by parties. A liberal coalition led by wartime rebel prime minister Mahmoud Jibril won 39 of those seats, while the Justice and Construction Party – the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood – won 17, according to Al Jazeera, while the remaining 120 seats are in the hands of independent candidates whose allegiances are hard to pin down.