Military dictatorship

The United Nations on July 14 pulled its staff out of Libya where at least 13 people have been killed in fighting in the eastern city of Benghazi and in Tripoli, forcing the closure of the international airport.

Heavy fighting broke out July 13 between rival militias vying for control of Libya’s main airport, killing at least three people and forcing a halt of all flights in the worst fighting in the capital for six months.

Explosions and anti-aircraft gunfire were heard from early morning on the airport road and other parts of Tripoli.

The Constitutional Court has unanimously rejected individual applications filed by Kenan Evren and Tahsin Şahinkaya, the two 1980 military court leaders convicted to life imprisonment last week. The applications had been made on the grounds that Evren and Şahinkaya suffered “rights violations” during their trial.

A Sudanese court on June 23 ordered the release of a 27-year-old woman who was sentenced to death last month for converting from Islam to Christianity, the state news agency said.

A Libyan renegade general has called on all Turks and Qataris to leave volatile eastern Libya, accusing the two countries of supporting “terrorism,” his spokesman said June 22.

BELGRADE - New Libyan Ambassador to Serbia Tajori Shrady Tajori delivered the credential letters to Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic on Monday and said that his appointment for the office represents an expression of the wish of the new Libyan government to improve its cooperation with Serbia.

Cécilia Attias, ex-wife of former French President Sarkozy, met Thursday in Sofia with the Bulgarian medics who spent 8 years in prison in Libya over a HIV trial.

Cecilia Attias, then-wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, had a major contribution to the release of the medics.

Former Libyan Interior Ministry Undersecretary, Al-Bahlul Al-Said, has been kidnapped in Tripoli, a security official revealed on Wednesday.

Al-Said was taken from his car by gunmen driving in two vehicles while traveling in the Tajoura district of the Libyan capital. His location and captures remain unknown.