Salih Jaaoda, an independent member of the recently elected General National Congress (GNC), won his seat scoring the highest votes among other non-party candidates. He earned the trust of more than forty thousand voters in his third constituency of Benghazi. Salih Jaaoda, an independent member of the recently elected General National Congress (GNC), won his […]

Intellectual terrorism has long been a key component of totalitarian regimes; it is a bridge between dreamy romanticism and oppressive despotism. However, intellectual terrorism can only be enlarged with an intellectual project put forth by the totalitarian regime as an indispensable solution. Intellectual terrorism has long been a key component of totalitarian regimes; it is […]

Leaving the western part of Tripoli, crossing one suburb after another, one reaches a vast desert adjacent to the Tunisian border. Neighboring and remote cities and villages scatter on the edges of this desert, which hold stories about the goods and people smuggled across its borders.  Once a phenomenon that used to show itself modestly […]

Every day hundreds of African workers illegally cross the southern borders of Libya. In the absence of a government authority in southern border checkpoints, local councils in the cities, with limited capacities, are struggling to control the entry of African migrants. Authorities claim, however, that they cannot ensure the migrants’ physical or human rights. Every […]

In 2009, while Gaddafi hosted the heads of more than 40 countries—who had come to congratulate him on the 40th anniversary of the Gaddafi-led revolution— Jamal Elhaji stood some hundred meters away from the event, giving an interview to CNN in which he said the host was a lunatic dictator who should step down as the ruler […]

The revolution last February not only opened the door to a new Libya, it also unlocked dark secrets from the Gaddafi Era; like details about the alleged killings in Al-Bayda in 1996, which began in the Sha’abiyeh-600 neighbourhood on the 19th of April and continued on the 29th of June with the mass execution of […]

Arthritis and near blindness didn’t stop Mubaraka Maadani from registering her name in the voter rolls.  The 108 year-old from the Najeela, Qwarsha neighborhood in Benghazi, geared up for local council as well as General National Conference elections last month. With the help of her grandchildren, Maadani happily got two voting slips to participate in […]

With the intensified electoral competition of General National Conference (GNC) seats, the public in Libya  has come to know, for the first time, terms like “civil state” and “secularism”. With the intensified electoral competition of General National Conference (GNC) seats, the public in Libya  has come to know, for the first time, terms like “civil […]

The grey-haired Hajj Muhammad Najeeb Abu Khatwa has not worn gloves, entered a ring or even watched a live boxing match since 1979, when Gaddafi banned the sport due to its “brutality”.  Nearing sixty, Najeeb, together with Africa’s former boxing champion, Muhammad Boshkewa, has revived the Libyan Boxing Federation. The duo secured an unequipped training […]

In an old coffee shop in Hout Souq, in downtown Benghazi, Muhammad Abdulatti, wearing simple clothes stained with oil and grease, solemnly smoked a cigarette.  Unlike the others in the coffee shop, his index finger wasn’t stained with phosphoric ink. In an old coffee shop in Hout Souq, in downtown Benghazi, Muhammad Abdulatti, wearing simple […]