Hadi Fornaji TRIPOLI — Thanks to the Political Isolation Law, half a million Libyans will be excluded from state jobs and public life, former prime minister Mahmoud Jibril has claimed. Jibril, who was once Gaddafi's planning minister, seems certain to fall within the ambit of the legislation passed by the General National Congress (GNC) Sunday, and therefore faces a ten-year ban from political office and government jobs. The law even prevents those deemed to have been close to the fallen regime from being part of any civil society associations. “We participated in the overthrowing of Gaddafi,” Jibril told Al-Arabiya TV, “ but the law says we must go. But I say that I have performed my part in the 17 February Revolution and no isolation law is able to erase that from history.” Political proscription, should, he said, be based on what individuals had done rather than the jobs they had held. Jibril said that legislation as sweeping as the Political Isolation Law was unprecedented in any country. He also deplored the presence of militias besieging government ministries before the GNC took its vote. “The law was passed under duress and force of arms,” he said, adding “Libya needs to approve the isolation law, but not now”. He was also critical of the deal-making among different political groupings, which had preceded Sunday's vote. He said that the new law will affect GNC President Mohamed Magarief but ruled out the chance that it would also impact on the position of Prime Minister Ali Zidan. Jibril said that unlike other liberal Libyan leaders, he had chosen not to stay quiet. “My goal is to send a message to the Libyan youth of the coalition, that the battle to rebuild Libya has just started, and will not end by excluding Mahmoud Jibril.” — Libya Herald
