Calls to Reveal Whereabouts of 100 Missing Tunisians in Libya

Head of the Libyan Presidential Council Mohamed al-Menfi (Getty Images)
Head of the Libyan Presidential Council Mohamed al-Menfi (Getty Images)
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Calls to Reveal Whereabouts of 100 Missing Tunisians in Libya

Head of the Libyan Presidential Council Mohamed al-Menfi (Getty Images)
Head of the Libyan Presidential Council Mohamed al-Menfi (Getty Images)

A Tunisian human rights association has called for revealing the fate and whereabouts of Tunisians stranded and missing in Libya.

Some associations and human rights organizations estimate the number of Tunisians stranded in Libya at about 100, some of whom are in prisons on terrorism charges while others are believed to be in shelters.

Head of the Rescue Association of Tunisians Trapped Abroad (RATTA) Mohamed Iqbal Ben Rejeb issued a statement demanding the formation of a joint Tunisian-Libyan committee to search for the missing Tunisians in Libya and settle issues that have been pending for years now.

This comes in line with Head of the Libyan Presidential Council Mohamed al-Menfi’s official three-day visit to Tunis upon President Kais Saied’s invitation.

The senior officials discussed the frozen Libyan funds in Tunis, while Tunisian officials raised the issue of security cooperation and the pursuit of terrorist organizations infiltrating across borders.

Tunis attaches great importance to security matters, especially that it has data claiming that perpetrators of some of the terrorist attacks in the country were trained in Libyan camps.

Matters linked to the stranded Tunisian journalists, Sofiene Chourabi and Nadir Ktari, have been continuously followed up, especially by active civil society organizations.

Tunisia’s Foreign Ministry has repeatedly announced pursuing this issue with relevant Libyan parties. However, no clear information has been given in this regard.



Hamas Seeks to Name Haniyeh’s Successor as Soon as Possible

A Palestinian girl cries after an Israeli airstrike hit a school complex in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of Gaza City, on Saturday. (AFP)
A Palestinian girl cries after an Israeli airstrike hit a school complex in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of Gaza City, on Saturday. (AFP)
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Hamas Seeks to Name Haniyeh’s Successor as Soon as Possible

A Palestinian girl cries after an Israeli airstrike hit a school complex in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of Gaza City, on Saturday. (AFP)
A Palestinian girl cries after an Israeli airstrike hit a school complex in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of Gaza City, on Saturday. (AFP)

Informed Hamas sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that until Sunday, no person had been chosen to head the movement’s political bureau after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week.

The sources confirmed that there are ongoing consultations in an attempt to implement the movement’s by-laws, amid a vacuum in many senior positions in the Shura Council and its executive body.

On Saturday, Hamas said in a statement that it had “begun a broad consultation process in its leadership and Shura institutions to choose a new head of the movement” following Haniyeh’s assassination, which was blamed on Israel.

Several potential candidates can be chosen to assume the position, including Khaled Meshaal, Musa Abu Marzouk, Yehya Al-Sanwar, Khalil Al-Hayya, and Zaher Jabareen.

Asharq Al-Awsat sources suggest that Meshaal is likely to be selected as head of the movement to replace Haniyeh until the end of the war, perhaps before holding early elections at the end of the current stage.

According to the sources, the presence of prominent leaders from within the movement abroad, specifically in Qatar, will help in overcoming the current crises and trying to expedite the steps to choose the prospective personality.

Meshaal is the former head of Hamas, and has lived in exile since 1967, moving between Jordan, Qatar, Syria, and other countries.

He was chosen as head of the movement’s political bureau after Israel assassinated the founder of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, and after him, his successor in the Palestinian territories, Abdulaziz Al-Rantisi.