Another Benghazi assassination

Benghazi, 25 January 2013:

There is perplexity in Benghazi after the assassination of yet another man linked to the military. Naji El-Hariri was shot last night, Thursday, in front of his home in the city’s Al-Laithi district.

Hariri is the nephew of Omar El-Hariri, who was one of the original members of the group of officers who took part In the Qaddafi’s 1969 coup. He is popular in Benghazi today for having broken away from the regime early on.

Disillusioned with the former dictator, Hariri senior was involved in an abortive attempt to overthrow him in 1975 which resulted in him being condemned to death. The sentence was never carried out but he languished in jail until 1990 and from then until the revolution was under house arrest. He joined the uprising at the very beginning, becoming a member of the National Transitional Council, and running the National Liberation Army from March to May 2011.

Omar is said to have been very close to his uncle, acting as his driver.

A week ago, police officer Salah Muftah Al-Wazri was murdered in in the same Benghazi district when a bomb exploded underneath his vehicle.