عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Menfi, UN’s Guterres Discuss Latest Developments in Libya

Chairman of the Libyan Presidential Council Mohamed al-Menfi meets with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday. (Menfi's press office)
Chairman of the Libyan Presidential Council Mohamed al-Menfi meets with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday. (Menfi's press office)
TT
20
TT

Menfi, UN’s Guterres Discuss Latest Developments in Libya

Chairman of the Libyan Presidential Council Mohamed al-Menfi meets with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday. (Menfi's press office)
Chairman of the Libyan Presidential Council Mohamed al-Menfi meets with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday. (Menfi's press office)

Chairman of the Libyan Presidential Council Mohamed al-Menfi held talks on Tuesday with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the sidelines of the 77th UN General Assembly in New York.

They discussed the latest developments in Libya, including the political impasse that has negatively impacted the fragile security situation.

They also exchanged views on the importance of de-escalating tensions and engaging in genuine dialogue to find a consensual pathway to elections.

Menfi pledged to meet the constitutional demands for the elections, stressing that the Council is still prepared to intervene when necessary.

He congratulated Guterres on appointing Abdoulaye Bathily of Senegal as his Special Representative for Libya and expressed readiness to fully cooperate with him to advance the political process in the country.

Menfi had previously hinted during a meeting with a tribal delegation that his Council will intervene using its sovereign authority to determine the legal framework for the electoral process in case the parliament and High Council of State fail to agree on a constitutional basis.

Head of the High Council of State Khalid al-Mishri didn’t comment on Menfi’s remarks, but east-based parliament Speaker Aguila Saleh stressed that it is not within the powers of the Presidential Council to set an electoral constitutional basis.

Prior to his meeting with Guterres, Menfi held talks with the Arab League Secretary-General, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, on Monday.

They discussed various political and security issues in Libya and stressed efforts to maintain stability and hold elections there soon.

Most Viewed

 
Arab World

A British TV Art Expert Who Sold Works to a Suspected Hezbollah Financier is Sentenced to Prison

FILED - 27 October 2023, Iran, Chomein: A woman sorts flags of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia in a factory. Photo: Arne Immanuel Bansch/dpa
FILED - 27 October 2023, Iran, Chomein: A woman sorts flags of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia in a factory. Photo: Arne Immanuel Bansch/dpa
TT
20
TT

A British TV Art Expert Who Sold Works to a Suspected Hezbollah Financier is Sentenced to Prison

FILED - 27 October 2023, Iran, Chomein: A woman sorts flags of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia in a factory. Photo: Arne Immanuel Bansch/dpa
FILED - 27 October 2023, Iran, Chomein: A woman sorts flags of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia in a factory. Photo: Arne Immanuel Bansch/dpa

An art expert who appeared on the BBC's Bargain Hunt show was sentenced Friday to two and a half years in prison for failing to report his sale of pricey works to a suspected financier of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group.
At a previous hearing, Oghenochuko Ojiri, 53, had pleaded guilty to eight offenses under the Terrorism Act 2000. The art sales for about 140,000 pounds ($185,000) to Nazem Ahmad, a diamond and art dealer sanctioned by the UK and US as a Hezbollah financier, took place between October 2020 and December 2021. The sanctions were designed to prevent anyone in the UK or US from trading with Ahmad or his businesses, The Associated Press said.
Ojiri, who also appeared on the BBC’s Antiques Road Trip, faced a possible sentence of five years in prison in the hearing at London’s Central Criminal Court, which is better known as the Old Bailey.
In addition to the prison term, Justice Bobbie Cheema-Grubb said Ojiri faces an additional year on license — a period of time after a prison sentence ends when an offender must stay out of trouble or risk going back to prison.
She told Ojiri he had been involved in a commercial relationship “for prestige and profit” and that until his involvement with Ahmad, he was “someone to be admired.”
“You knew about Ahmad’s suspected involvement in financing terrorism and the way the art market can be exploited by someone like him," she said. "This is the nadir — there is one direction your life can go and I am confident that you will not be in front of the courts again.”
The Met’s investigation into Ojiri was carried out alongside Homeland Security in the US, which is conducting a wider investigation into alleged money laundering by Ahmad using shell companies.
“This prosecution, using specific Terrorism Act legislation, is the first of its kind and should act as a warning to all art dealers that we can, and will, pursue those who knowingly do business with people identified as funders of terrorist groups,” said Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command.
Ahmad was sanctioned in 2019 by the US Treasury, which said he was a prominent Lebanon-based money launderer involved in smuggling blood diamonds, which are mined in conflict zones and sold to finance violence.
Two years ago, the UK Treasury froze Ahmad’s assets because he financed Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite militant organization that has been designated an international terrorist group.
Following Ojiri's arrest in April 2023, the Met obtained a warrant to seize a number of artworks, including a Picasso and Andy Warhol paintings, belonging to Ahmad and held in two warehouses in the UK The collection, valued at almost 1 million pounds, is due to be sold with the funds to be reinvested back into the police, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Home Office.