Libya’s education minister has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison because of a textbook shortage dating back to 2021, the attorney general’s office announced on Sunday.
The Tripoli court of appeal also fined Moussa al-Megarief 1,000 dinars (about $200) and deprived him of his civil rights for the duration of his sentence and a year afterwards, the same source said in a statement on Facebook.
Megarief, a member of the national unity government, was accused of “violating the principle of equality,” interceding in favour of an unnamed party, and “favouritism in contract management … over the printing of textbooks”.
The case dates to the start of the 2021 school year, when a textbook shortage forced parents to spend money on photocopies of textbooks supposed to be provided free in public schools.
An investigation began into Megarief over his management of “contractual procedures for printing textbooks and the reasons behind this shortage”.
He was then placed in preventive detention as part of an investigation into “negligence in the exercise of his functions.”
Megarief was later released from custody for lack of evidence, and resumed his post as education minister.
He attributed the textbook shortage to unifying the school curriculum among the North African country’s three regions, saying this delayed payments owed to suppliers.
Before the attorney general’s announcement on Sunday, the education ministry’s Facebook page posted a picture showing Megarief at work.
