Libya’s main airport security body in Tripoli on Monday denied authorizing a departure to Turkey for the internationally recognized government’s top diplomat, who was ‘suspended’ on Sunday after reports of a recent meeting with his Israeli counterpart.
Libya does not recognize Israel and fiercely opposes any normalization with that country.
According to Internet users, a Falcon-type plane, tracked on the Flightradar application, would have transported the Minister, Najla al-Mangoush, to Turkey overnight from Sunday to Monday after authorization to leave from Tripoli given by the Organ of Homeland Security (OSI).
Turkey’s official Anadolu agency quoting unnamed “security sources” said Ms Mangoush had left the Libyan capital for Istanbul on a government plane.
The minister was not “authorized” to leave Libyan territory “by official channels from Mitiga airport (the only one in Tripoli, editor’s note), whether by the ordinary terminal or by that of high personalities”, the OSI said in a statement.
Ms. Mangoush “is on the list of people banned from traveling” abroad, detailed the OSI, stressing that “the surveillance cameras would prove” that she did not leave Mitiga.
The minister was “suspended” on Sunday evening and subjected to an “administrative investigation” by the decision of the Prime Minister, Abdelhamid Dbeibah, based in Tripoli and recognized by the UN.
These decisions were taken a few hours after the announcement by the head of Israeli diplomacy, Eli Cohen, of an “unprecedented meeting” last week in Rome with his Libyan counterpart.
In a press release issued before the suspension of Ms. Mangoush, her ministry had described this meeting as “fortuitous and unofficial” and wanted to recall “in a clear and unambiguous manner Libya’s position with regard to the Palestinian cause”.
Spontaneous protest movements erupted in Tripoli and several Libyan cities on Sunday in a sign of rejection of any normalization with Israel.
Groups of young people cut roads, burned tires, and waved the Palestinian flag, an AFP journalist noted.
In Libya, any relationship with Israel, its nationals, or any entity representing it is subject to criminal prosecution.
