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UN Security Council Extends Travel Exemption to Gaddafi’s Widow

Slain Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s widow, Safia Farkash.
Slain Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s widow, Safia Farkash.
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UN Security Council Extends Travel Exemption to Gaddafi’s Widow

Slain Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s widow, Safia Farkash.
Slain Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s widow, Safia Farkash.

The United Nations Security Council Committee established pursuant to resolution 1970 (2011) concerning Libya decided to extend a travel exemption to slain Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s widow, Safia Farkash, for “humanitarian purposes.”

The decision, effective from December 1, 2021 through May 31, 2022, also includes Aisha Muammar Gaddafi and Mohammed Muammar Gaddafi.

Dr. Mustafa al-Fituri, who had attended the trial of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi at the International Criminal Court as an independent observer, said the Council’s decision to extend the period rather than lifting the restrictions permanently "has to do with the internal political situation.”

“Perhaps members of the UN Security Council believe that setting Gaddafi’s family members free may allow them to be involved politically,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

He also assumed Farkash did not assign an advocate who communicates with the UN sanctions committee and insists on lifting these travel restrictions.

The Council issued a resolution on February 27, 2011, under which travel bans and asset freezing decisions were issued against Gaddafi, his family members and some of his aides.

However, it began to gradually lift restrictions on Gaddafi’s widow, and two of his sons, Aisha and Mohammed, for a period of six months, the last of which was from June to November 2021.

Farkash fled Libya after the outbreak of the revolution and sought refuge in Algeria, Oman and Cairo with her daughter, Aisha. Mohammed, Gaddafi’s son from his first wife Fathia, followed them, while his other son Hannibal is still held in Lebanon.

Under the humanitarian travel exemption granted, travel information shall be provided by the aforementioned individuals for information purposes of the Committee prior to and within one month after travel, as per the Provisional Guidelines of the Committee and the Committee’s Implementation Assistance Notice.

The Committee could consider extending or renewing the exemption, should circumstances warrant, and any future decision would take into account the level of information provided.

Many Libyan academics, journalists and jurists have previously called for launching an initiative of solidarity with Gaddafi’s widow.

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New Year Hope and Joy Reign in a Damascus Freed from Assad

A young woman holds the Flag of Syria as people celebrate the New Year near Umayyad Square in Damascus, Syria, on January 1, 2025. (AFP)
A young woman holds the Flag of Syria as people celebrate the New Year near Umayyad Square in Damascus, Syria, on January 1, 2025. (AFP)
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New Year Hope and Joy Reign in a Damascus Freed from Assad

A young woman holds the Flag of Syria as people celebrate the New Year near Umayyad Square in Damascus, Syria, on January 1, 2025. (AFP)
A young woman holds the Flag of Syria as people celebrate the New Year near Umayyad Square in Damascus, Syria, on January 1, 2025. (AFP)

Umayyad Square in Damascus hummed to the throngs of people brandishing "revolution" flags as Syria saw in the new year with hope following 13 years of civil war.

Gunshots rang out from Mount Qasioun overlooking the capital where hundreds of people gazed up at fireworks, an AFP reporter at the square saw.

It was the first new year's celebration without an Assad in power for more than 50 years after the fall of Bashar al-Assad in December.

"Long live Syria, Assad has fallen," shouted some children.

"We did not expect such a miracle to happen, today the Syrians have found their smile again," Layane el Hijazi, a 22-year-old agricultural engineering student, told AFP from Umayyad Square.

"We were able to obtain our rights, we can now talk. I am letting off steam these last three weeks and tonight by bringing out everything I had buried," she said.

Despite the revelry, soldiers patrolled the streets of Damascus less than a month after Assad's rapid demise.

The green, white and black revolution flag with its three red stars flies all over the capital.

Such a sight -- the symbol of the Syrian people's uprising against the Assad dynasty's iron-fisted rule -- was unthinkable a month ago.

The fall of Assad brought an end to more than half a century of unchallenged rule by his family's clan over Syria, where dissent was repressed and public freedoms were heavily curtailed.

"Whatever happens, it will be better than before," said Imane Zeidane, 46, a cartoonist, who came to Umayyad Square with her husband and their daughter.

"I am starting the new year with serenity and optimism," she said, adding that she has "confidence" in the new government under de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa.

She also remembers that new year's celebrations in previous years were "not like this".

"The joy is double now -- you come down to celebrate the new year with your heart, and celebrate the hope it carries," Zeidane said.

- 'Fears have dissipated' -

The revolutionary song "Lift your head, you are a free Syrian" by Syrian singer Assala Nasri rang out loud on Umayyad Square.

"Every year, we aged suddenly by 10 years," taxi driver Qassem al-Qassem, 34, told AFP in reference to the tough living conditions in a country whose economy collapsed under Assad.

"But with the fall of regime, all our fears have dissipated," he said.

"Now I have a lot of hope. But all we want now is peace."

More than half a million people died in the 13-year civil war as the country split into different regions controlled by various warring parties.

Many families are still waiting for news of loved ones who went missing under Assad's rule, during which time tens of thousands of prisoners disappeared.

"I hope that Syria in 2025 will be non-denominational, pluralist, for everyone, without exception," said Havan Mohammad, a Kurdish student from the northeast studying pharmacy in the capital.