Journalists and employees of Libyan News Agency (LANA) rejected the decision of Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh to appoint a new chairman of the agency’s board of directors.
During a cabinet meeting on Sunday, Dbeibeh decided to name Saleh Issa Belhaj as the new chairman of LANA’s board of directors, according to a statement by the government’s spokesman Mohamed Hamuda.
In a statement released on Wednesday, LANA’s staff pointed out that the agency is “affiliated with the House of Representative”. Therefore, they claimed that “it is not legally permissible” for the government to name a new board chairman.
The agency’s staff called on the government to issue a clarification about Hamuda’s statement.