Libya’s Jalil calls for sharia law, as Amnesty says NTC guilty of war crimes

GlobalPost

The head of Libya’s National Transitional Council on Monday night delivered his first public speech in central Tripoli.

Speaking to thousands of supporters in Martyrs’ Square, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil said Libya would adopt sharia law.

But, as the New York Times reports, Jalil insisted that Libya would never again fall into the hands of extremists.

We will not accept any extremist ideology, on the right or the left. We are a Muslim people, for a moderate Islam, and will stay on this road.

We strive for a state of the law, for a state of prosperity, for a state that will have Islamic sharia law the basis of legislation.

Meanwhile Amnesty International has accused fighters of Libya's National Transitional Council of committing war crimes in their battle to overthrow leader Muammar Gaddafi.

(Read more on GlobalPost: "Chaos" in Bani Walid as rebels assault loyalist stronghold)

In a report released on Monday, Amnesty said it was concerned that the NTC seemed unwilling to hold its fighters accountable for rights violations.

It accused NTC fighters of abducting, arbitrarily detaining, torturing and killing members of Gaddafi's security forces

However, the Amnesty report said the bulk of atrocities in Libya had been carried out by forces loyal to Gaddafi, which it said may be responsible for crimes against humanity.

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