Earlier this month, as the walls of Tripoli's Martyr's Square echoed with calls to dawn prayer, signaling the start to another day of Ramadan fasting, hundreds of sleepless young men continued overnight demonstrations against Libya's political parties. Others marched to various party headquarters, ransacking them. These men, like others in cities across Libya, took to the streets in the wake of the July 26, 2013 assassination of Abdelsalam al-Mismari in Benghazi.
Mismari, a human rights lawyer and activist, was an early organizer in Libya's revolution against Muammar al-Qaddafi's regime. He was also a vocal critic of the Muslim Brotherhood and of Libya's new power brokers, the militias. As author Hisham Matar argues, whoever is behind the assassination, "their aim was not only to silence Mismari but also to frighten civil society."
Read Full Article »