Libyan woman provokes headscarf row in parliament

A woman not wearing a headscarf in the Libyan parliament provoked a row when she was asked to leave the stage during the handover ceremony.

Mustafa Abdul Jalil, a former Chairman of Libya's National Transitional Council told Sarah Elmesallati, hosting the handover ceremony, to leave the stage after one of the congressmen walked out because her head was not covered. Ms Elmesallati was asked to cover her head midway through her presentation. After she declined, Salah Baadi, an independent congressman from Misurata and prominent Islamist, walked out of the ceremony in protest. "After that, an assistant of Jalil came up to me and said 'please, I'm asking you as a daughter, can you please stop'. I begged him to let me continue, but when I walked back on stage, Jalil caught my eye, pointed at me, and signalled for me to go away, so I did", Ms Elmesallati told the Libya Herald. The remainder of the ceremony was hosted by a man. Later in his speech Mr Jalil highlighted the importance of freedom of expression in Libya whilst respecting its Muslim traditions. The spat provoked debate about the appropriate extent of freedom of expression in the new Libya amongst attendees of the event.