Ashraf Abdul-Wahab TRIPOLI – Libya's Grand Mufti Sheikh Sadik Al-Ghariani had ordered revolutionaries to “eliminate” alleged criminals resisting arrest in the Warshefana area and pro-Qaddafi forces in Sebha. Speaking by phone in TV yesterday, he said that the criminals and insurgents “threaten the social cohesion, peace and security in our Muslim country, Libya”. In the absence of effective state power, the revolutionaries were duty bound to attack them and destroy them, he ruled. Anyone who did not or did so half-heartedly was deviating from the faith, he declared. Anyone who protected or sheltered the criminals should also be considered one of them, he added. “These gangs and criminals have gone too far in their banditry, behaviour and crimes of robbery,” he ruled. “They have now became a threat to Muslims all over our country.” Given “the important role of Dar Al-Ifta in clarifying the Quranic opinion in this matter”, he declared that “revolutionaries must besiege these criminals and eliminate them so as to prevent injustice, immorality and corruption prevailing in the land of Libya and in order that our revolution is not in vain in the face of the acts of these gangs and outlaws, which are contrary to the teachings of Islam”. The criminal gangs were being supported by associates of the Qaddafi regime, he said, and it was a duty “imposed on you by your religion and the Sunnah of the Prophet” to destroy them. Anyone who wanted to leave the conflict areas must be given safe passage, he said, but those who chose to stay with the criminals and insurgents had to be treated as one of them. Separately to the Grand Mufti's hardline fatwa, the Research and Religious Studies Council of the Dar Al-Ifta ,which he also heads, together with the Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Religious Endowments and three other religious organisations, issued a statement calling on the government and the General National Congress to use “an iron fist” against the pro-Qaddafi rebels in the south and elsewhere, as well as against criminals throughout the country. Calling the events in Sebha “a setback to the revolution's progress”, they called on revolutionaries to unite and defend the country internally and externally. The government and Congress had to support the revolutionaries because, until a national army was operational, they were the only forces capable of ensuring security. In the case of the conflict in the Warshefana area, however, the government and Congress appear committed to dialogue rather than force. Confirming earlier reports of a security forces pullout from the district, the Prime Minister on Wednesday said that mistakes had been made on both sides and that police would now take over security instead. However, fighting yesterday again intensified. The director of Abu Sleem Hospital, Sami Hanish, told Alsssema TV said that in the past two days, 28 people had been admitted. Five had died and six other had undergone major surgery. – Libya Herald
