The National Oil Corporation announced the arrest of a member of its board of directors, “Abu al-Qasim Shanqir,” at Mitiga Airport, while he was returning from abroad with his family, in an arbitrary and inappropriate manner for a public and national figure, according to the NOC’s statement.
The NOC said it refuses to allow such absurd and irresponsible acts against any person from the oil sector, noting that the occurrence of such acts indicates a state of confusion and chaos in the country and the failure to follow the official procedures in the arrest and investigation process.
The NOC described this action as “within the framework of the systematic war waged by a large coalition that brought together some militias, smugglers, some corrupt figures from politicians, some ideologized and common stakeholders against the National Oil Corporation in order to blackmail, infiltrate, politicize and drag it out of the neutral zone it has pursued during the past years, by which it was able to maintain the flow of oil for the benefit of all Libyans.”
The National Oil Corporation called on the Presidential Council, the Government of National Unity and the Office of the Attorney General to take all legal measures, and not to allow the torture of “Shanqir” or any of his family members.
The NOC also called on the United Nations, Amnesty International and human rights organizations to intervene immediately and urgently to release “Shanqir”, and to hold the kidnappers responsible for his safe and unconditional return to his family as soon as possible.
The National Oil Corporation confirmed the continuation of its firm stances against the exploitation of credits that were granted to a certain category at 1.4 Libyan dinars against the dollar exchange rate and its call to correct matters, in addition to its stances in combating smuggling and its full cooperation with the Attorney General’s Office to pursue smugglers internally and externally, which fueled the alliance of these forces against it and their repeated attempts to undermine it in various ways.
