Newly-appointed charge d’affaires illegally took control of the Libyan Embassy in Paris while the Ambassador was outside France, according to the Ambassador, Khalid Kajiji.
Kajiji said that the Foreign Ministry of Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh’s government had appointed Murad Hamima as a Charge d’affaires to represent him while he was outside France, so Hamima illegally seized control of the embassy, and the French authorities have not granted him diplomatic immunity until now.
In a letter directed to the Head of the Administrative Control Authority, Kajiji said that Hamima took many decisions that led to a change in the administrative structure of the Embassy, replacing the employees in charge of administrative affairs and the secret department with other employees at the embassy, as he tried taking control of the embassy’s bank accounts, but the bank refused to do so, and also seized the department’s seal of the Administrative Affairs Department at the embassy, taking the office keys from the employee he assigned.
The letter stated that “the inherent jurisdiction to appoint ambassadors and officials of the Libyan state
abroad, according to the political agreement, as well as the outcomes of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum, is for the Presidential Council.”
“Ambassadors also exercise their powers based on your appointment of them and in accordance with the texts of the laws and regulations in force in the Libyan state. Therefore, what It is carried out by Mr. Murad Hamima, which is a circumvention of the powers of the Presidential Council based on the documents governing the structures of the Libyan state, is an attempt to limit their effectiveness, and usurp Powers not granted to him by law.”
“While we disclaim responsibility for the effects that may arise from the actions of Mr. Murad Hamima and his legal, administrative and financial transgressions within the embassy, we hope that you will take the measures that you deem appropriate in order to restore matters to normal and punish violators and those seeking to create chaos in the embassy, and create a parallel entity through which carrying out business and controlling the embassy’s bank accounts illegally and harmful to the interests of Libyan state,” the letter addressed the Administrative Control Authority.