UN alarmed at reported attack on Libyan court over Saif al-Islam appeal attempt

The UN mission to Libya expressed alarm on Friday about a reported attack on a court where Saif al-Islam Gaddafi's lawyer said armed men stopped him from lodging an appeal against his disqualification from next month's presidential election.

The elections commission disqualified Saif al-Islam, son of the late Libyan dictator, and 24 others on Wednesday from the Dec. 24 election, which is part of a peace process meant to end a decade of turmoil but has stirred fears of renewed conflict.

Gaddafi's lawyer, Khaled al-Zaidi, said in a video that armed men had raided the court in the southern city of Sebha, one of only three registration centres, and stopped him entering to lodge his client's appeal.

The United Nations Support Mission in Libya said it was alarmed by the reported attack on the appeal court in Sebha, strongly condemned any form of electoral-related violence, and reiterated that the electoral process must be protected.

"The Mission reiterates its call for holding transparent, fair and inclusive elections on 24 December," it said.

Rival camps are disputing the election rules and the eligibility of candidates, threatening to derail the vote and with it the UN-backed peace process.

Sebha is under the control of a group allied to the eastern-based Libyan National Army force commanded by Khalifa Haftar, another of the main candidates.

The Justice Ministry in Tripoli said an armed group had forced everyone to leave the court building.

Gaddafi's candidacy was rejected on the basis of a 2015 conviction in absentia by a Tripoli court for war crimes committed during the fighting that ousted his father in 2011.

He has spent the last decade in the mountain town of Zintan, where his captors took him after he was seized trying to flee Libya during the uprising.

(Reuters)