Former Tripoli mayor and military commander Mahdi al-Harati involved in sectarian attack in Malta in which a man suffered slight injuriesThe unrest in Libya appears to have continued to spill over into Malta as two young men from the failed North African state were charged with slightly injuring a fellow countryman in Malta on Wednesday. In 2014, Al-Harati was elected mayor of Libya's capital city of Tripoli but his tenure lasted just over a year after the Municipality of Central Tripoli sacked him over his faiulure to run the city effectively.Ahnish and Farag were also charged with threatening the two men and breaching the peace. Farag alone was accused of carrying a knife in public without police permission.Lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Gianluca De Marco appearing separately as parte civile for the victims told the court that their clients had withdrawn their criminal complaints and were waiving their rights insofar as possible. Farag also admitted the knife charge.The defence requested the court order a ban on the publication of the name of al-Harati due to expected repercussions in Tripoli, but this request was turned down.Finding the men guilty of breaching the peace, it fined Ahnish €50. Farag was fined €30 for the breach of the peace, together with €116.47 for the knife charge.Lawyers Alfred Abela and Mario Mifsud appeared for the defendants.

Source: Libya Today January 27, 2017 14:30 UTC