Libyan lawmaker kidnapped, says UN

An elected member of Libya’s eastern-based House of Representatives representing Benghazi has been abducted, the UN mission in Libya said in a statement Saturday night.

The UN Support Mission in Libya expressed “deep concern about the abduction of Mr Ibrahim Al Dirsi”.

Libya is divided between the UN-recognized Tripoli-based government in the west and a rival administration led by military strongman Khalifa Haftar in the east.

The eastern-based parliament said in a statement on Saturday night that it was “following with great concern the disappearance of Ibrahim Al Dirsi, representative of the city of Benghazi” without specifying when he had gone missing.

It called on “security services to do their utmost to find out what happened to him and ensure his safe return”.

There are as yet no details on where or when Dirsi was kidpanned.

The UN Support Mission in Libya called on “the competent authorities to locate and secure his prompt release” and urged “a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding (his) disappearance and to hold those accountable under the law”.

Libya is still struggling to recover from years of war and chaos after the 2011 overthrow of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

In 2019, Siham Sergewa, another representative, was abducted and remains missing.

Sergewa, also representing Benghazi, had been taken from her home shortly after the airing of a television broadcast in which she criticized Haftar’s offensive on Tripoli that year.