Libya daily assails Tripoli on women's travel ban

Tripoli, Mar 8: A Libyan government newspaper has published a rare criticism of the authorities, denouncing officials who bar Libyan women from travelling abroad alone.

The daily, al Jamahiriya, urged citizens to sue government officials behind the move.

''Libyan women are being turned back at airports and other border posts when they are leaving the country alone to travel abroad,'' the newspaper said in its Tuesday edition.

Some conservative Islamic scholars in Libya argue that travelling Muslim women must be accompanied by a male relative.

But the newspaper said the practice was against a government-endorsed human rights rule known officially as the Great Green Declaration of Human Rights.

That document states that ''Members of Libyan society are equal, as men and women. Discrimination between men and women is a crude injustice that is not justified''.

''Turning back women travelling alone is a stark and crude abuse of basic women's rights and clear discrimination against women,'' the newspaper added.

Al Jamahiriya urged Libyans to ''ignore their decision'' and ''file suits against those who interfere in our lives''.

The paper did not name the officials it wanted people to sue and did not say whether the practice was new. Airports and border posts are controlled by the Interior Ministry.

Reuters

RelatedStories