The case of a woman flogged in Sabha has exposed deeper questions about how justice is enforced and who holds authority in Libya’s divided state.
Days after a woman was publicly flogged in the southern Libyan city of Sabha, debate continues over her conviction for zina (adultery), a legal and religious offence under Libyan law referring to sexual relations between a man and a woman who are not legally married.
While some have defended the punishment, others have expressed outrage over the incident, with footage of the flogging circulating widely online and sparking legal, human rights and political debate, while reigniting broader questions about Libya’s legal system.
At the centre of the discussion are questions over the enforcement of a law dating back to the 1970s, the limits of institutional authority, and the relationship between justice and power in Libya.
Beyond the punishment itself, the incident has raised questions about the authority that carried it out, the manner in which the law was enforced, and why such scenes have resurfaced at this particular moment in a country that has experienced political and institutional division for more than a decade since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi.
The location of the incident has added another layer to the debate. Sabha is controlled by Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA), and Haftar’s political and military rhetoric in recent years has centred on fighting hardline Islamist groups, particularly Islamic State and al-Qaeda, both of which have prominently featured public punishments in their propaganda.
That said, this does not necessarily suggest a direct comparison between the two contexts, but it helps explain some of the controversy surrounding the incident. It has also raised questions over whether the case reflects a broader shift in the way justice is being administered in areas under Haftar’s control, or whether it remains an isolated case.
As the controversy surrounding the incident continued to grow, the legal and political dimensions of the case quickly became intertwined. Following the circulation of the video, Libya’s Supreme Judicial Council confirmed that the hadd punishment for adultery has a basis in Libyan law.
At the same time, however, the council stressed that court rulings must be enforced in accordance with legal safeguards that preserve human dignity. It also stated that filming and publishing footage of a punishment are not part of the enforcement process. The council later announced that an investigation had been opened.
The Judicial Police also announced that those responsible for carrying out the sentence had been suspended and referred for investigation.
The battle over blame and responsibility
With the investigation now underway, political reactions to the incident have varied. Manal Abu Omaid, head of the Al-Nour Party, said that any ideological influence within state institutions would inevitably be reflected in practices on the ground.
She argued that, if it were established that such violations had been committed by individuals or bodies enjoying protection or influence, ultimate political responsibility would rest with the authority overseeing those institutions.
She added that building a state governed by law and functioning institutions has become increasingly urgent in light of the security challenges facing southern Libya and its links to the wider Sahel region.
Political analyst Islam Al-Haji, meanwhile, argued that the incident could not be separated from developments in areas under Haftar’s control in recent years, particularly the growing presence of the Madkhali Salafist current within some religious and security institutions.
However, he cautioned that there was insufficient evidence to conclude that the incident reflected an official policy adopted either by this current or by the LNA leadership. He called for a distinction to be made between the ideological influence exercised by certain currents within institutions and direct institutional responsibility for the incident.
Offering a different interpretation, writer and political analyst Kamel Al-Marash described what happened as more likely to have been an individual act by people holding extremist views rather than an expression of institutional policy.
He pointed to the authorities’ decision to open an investigation, arguing that its findings would be decisive in determining whether the incident reflected an institutional failure or an individual violation.
While political disagreement has centred on how the incident should be interpreted, legal experts have raised a different question: does the controversy lie in the law itself, or in the way it was applied?
An old law. So, why did the Sabha incident cause such controversy?
The Judicial Police’s decision to suspend those who carried out the punishment and refer them for investigation indicated that the official debate was no longer focused only on the legality of the punishment itself, but also on whether the procedures governing its implementation had been followed.
Libyan lawyer Hanan Mustafa said that, in her professional capacity, she had witnessed flogging sentences being carried out in similar cases in 2010. She added that, at the time, the punishment was applied less frequently and was sometimes replaced by discretionary penalties or imprisonment.
For Mustafa, the current debate centres on whether the conditions imposed by law were observed when the sentence was carried out. These include the issuance of a final court ruling, judicial and medical supervision, and respect for the dignity of the convicted person throughout the process.
This interpretation is consistent with the position of Libya’s National Institution for Human Rights, which called for a transparent investigation into the incident.
The organisation stressed that respect for the rule of law cannot be separated from respect for procedural safeguards. It added that any authority found to have exceeded its legal powers while enforcing a sentence must be held accountable.
However, the debate has extended beyond legal procedures. For women’s rights activists and political figures, the incident has exposed wider questions about the status of women, institutional division and the nature of the Libyan state itself.
As a result, the case has moved beyond a judicial matter, becoming part of a broader discussion about governance and accountability in a country that remains politically divided.
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From a judicial incident to a test of state institutions
For Manal, the incident points to a wider crisis that goes beyond this individual case.
“Such procedural violations reflect the country’s divisions and the fragmentation of state institutions,” she said. “When institutions are weakened, and decision-making centres multiply, oversight and accountability are diminished. The enforcement of the law then becomes vulnerable to differing interpretations and practices, which negatively affects citizens’ trust in the justice system.”
Human rights activist Enas Ali, meanwhile, argued that the incident could not be viewed in isolation from the wider social and human rights conditions facing women in Libya.
“What happened is not an isolated incident, but the result of years of increasingly prevalent rhetoric that seeks to exercise guardianship over women and turns their bodies into targets of surveillance and punishment, while genuine questions of justice are marginalised,” she said.
Enas warned that publishing such footage contributes to the normalisation of violence against women and makes violations of their dignity appear more acceptable within society.
For Marwa Salem, however, the controversy extends beyond women’s rights and touches on the wider meaning of justice itself.
She argued that respect for human dignity and legal safeguards during the enforcement of court rulings is an essential component of the rule of law. Any breach of these safeguards, she said, undermines public confidence in judicial institutions, even when the punishment itself has a legal basis.
The limits of justice
Amid these competing interpretations, the Sabha incident appears to have become about far more than the enforcement of a court ruling.
Opinions differ over whether it reflects a shift in the administration of justice in areas under Haftar’s control, or whether it remains an isolated incident from which broader conclusions should not be drawn.
However, the common thread among most of those interviewed by The New Arab is that the case has revived a long-deferred debate over how laws are enforced, the limits of institutional authority, and the mechanisms through which those institutions can be held accountable.
Samira Elsaidi is a freelance journalist who has worked for Al-Arabi TV, Middle East Eye, al-Quds al Arabi, al-Shams newspaper and other international outlets
