'Saif Al Islam Has No Right to Run For Office' - Libyan Ageela Salih

ALBAWABA—The sudden appearance of Saif Al Islam, after an absence of six years is sending jitters among Libya’s political classes who are trying to unify the country and hold presidential elections slated on 24 December.

In response to his New York interview slamming Libyan politicians, Saif Al Islam, the eldest son of Moammar Gaddafi and deposed on 2011, the speaker of the Tabrouk parliaments Ageela Saleh says Saif Al Islam has no right to run for any public office in the coming elections because of his past criminal record.

“A person sentenced by the International Criminal Court is not entitled to run for the presidency of the Libyan state,” Salih was quoted as saying by the UAE-based Arab Weekly. He says a draft law is currently being passed by parliament stating “[the candidate] shall not be convicted of a felony or a crime against honour.”

The 49-year-old  told the New York Times that he now wants to “restore the lost unity’ to Libya after a decade of chaos and mayhem.

The interview which was covered by media outlets in the world was foretelling. Saif Al Islam brushed the fact that he’d been away from Libyan scene and its politics for 10 years.

"You need to come back slowly, slowly. Like a striptease. You need to play with their minds a little," he said in reference to the Libyan people.