Libya’s Tripoli-based PM denies plan to reinstitute controversial “morality police”

Libya’s prime minister, Abdel Hamid Aldabaiba, is backpaddling on recent comments by his Interior Minister regarding the reinstitution of a controversial “morality police”, according to the Libya Herald.

Speaking at a youth forum on Saturday, Aldabaiba said his minister went too far in “chattering” about public morals. He clarified that no plans are in place to form a task force targeting social behaviors. He emphasized that Libya’s predominantly conservative culture does not require such measures.

The controversy began a week earlier when Emad al-Tarabulsi, Libya’s Interior Minister, announced plans to establish a morality police within a month. He proposed laws to enforce the wearing of the hijab, restrict women from traveling without male guardians, and ban socializing between unrelated men and women.

His comments, including a remark that those “seeking personal freedom should go to Europe,” provoked backlash from domestic and international women’s rights groups, who criticized the proposals as extreme.

Aldabaiba’s statements aim to calm fears that Libya’s government is adopting stricter social regulations. He affirmed that the current societal norms already align with conservative values, making further enforcement unnecessary.