NTC drops religious party ban

ISTANBUL - Anatolia News Agency

Libya has dropped a ban against parties based on religion, tribe or ethnicity, an official said, after the law irked Islamist parties in the run up to the first free election in June.

The ruling National Transitional Council’s (NTC) judicial committee on May 2 read out a raft of news laws including an amended version of one governing formation of political parties, making no mention of the ban, which was announced last week. “This point has been dropped and so any party or political organization will follow the law as it is now,” Salwa Al-Dgheily, a member of the NTC judicial council said.

Glorification of Gadhafi regime banned

Libyans vote in June to elect a national assembly for the first time since the overthrow of Moammar Gadhafi. Eighty of the 200 seats will go to political parties, with the rest reserved for independent candidates. Last week the NTC said it had passed a law banning parties based on religious, tribal or ethnic lines. Separately, officials said Libya had banned the “glorification” of the Gadhafi regime.
“Glorification of Gadhafi, his regime, ideas and his children ... is punishable by a prison sentence,” according to the text of a new law. Another law allows for confiscation of property and possessions of 200 of Gadhafi’s supporters, relatives, Cabinet ministers and military commanders.