Abdelmonem Al-Lamoushi, the brother of a faculty staff member at the University of Tripoli and head of the National Association for Talented and Excelling People, Dr. Abdulkader Al-Lamoushi, confirmed that an armed group claiming to be affiliated with the Internal Security Apparatus of the Government of National Unity arrested his brother from inside the University of Tripoli campus on Tuesday afternoon.
Al-Lamoushi said that what happened to his brother “amounts to the level of a crime,” and is because of the latter’s attendance of a meeting of the movement of faculty members demanding the payment of their financial dues, the improvement of their salaries, and their right to be sent for postgraduate studies abroad and academic leave.
He added that this arrest, which came without an arrest warrant or summoning order from the Public Prosecution, is a horrific violation of human rights and a bad record of restraining freedoms inside Libya, calling on the relevant authorities to release his brother.
This comes as part of the repercussions of the tension that has been existing for days between the General Union of Faculty Members of Libyan Universities and the Government of National Unity, after the university faculty members’ demands to improve their conditions, and get increased salaries.
The tension reached its peak when the General Union announced that unknown people had kidnapped the Head, Abdel Fattah Al-Sayeh, on November 16, before releasing him based on an agreement with the Internal Security Apparatus in Tripoli to end the strike and resort to the judiciary.
University faculty staff members are committed to continuing the strike until the government responds to their demands by implementing the legislation issued by the House of Representatives regarding the financial aspect, moving forward with the scholarship, and beginning the disbursement of sabbatical leave rights.