An armed group at Tripoli’s Mitiga Airport on Monday forcibly prevented 30 members of the House of Representatives (HoR) from leaving the capital to Benghazi to attend a session of the House.
HoR has issued a statement condemning the incident of preventing the MPs from traveling from Tripoli to Benghazi to attend HoR’s official session.
“This act represents a disruption of the work of the Council and prevented it from exercising its duties to reach the presidential and parliamentary elections,” the statement said.
It described the incident as a dangerous precedent that threatens the unity of the country and constitutes the crime of restricting the freedom of citizens, abusing power and obstructing the work of the legislative authority.
The statement explained that what happened was a clear evidence that the city of Tripoli is kidnapped by armed groups supported by the outgoing government of Abdul Hamid Dabaiba.
“This act confirms our view that the government cannot operate from Tripoli in these circumstances,” it pointed out.
“We demand the Public Prosecutor to investigate this incident, issue a statement on the results of the investigation, and refer the accused to trial,” it added.
“We ask the deputies to attend the sessions of the House that will be announced to issue “critical decrees.”
The House’s spokesman, Abdullah Blehaq, confirmed the news, telling press reporters that the travel blockade against the MPs caused the parliament to cancel today’s session.