Khaled al-Zaidi, lawyer of Seif al-Islam, son of late Libyan leader Moammar al-Gaddafi, called for activating the amnesty law to release all detained members of the former regime. He told Asharq Al-Awsat: “National reconciliation and social calm cannot be achieved in the country without reaching the legal balance.” He explained that the trials of former Gaddafi regime members that took place after the February 2011 uprising “were not held on any working legal basis.” “This consequently led to the emergence of a divide between various segments of the Libyan population,” he added. Khaled al-Zaidi made his remarks in wake of a demand by Mustafa al-Zaidi, a former regime member, for “the immediate and unconditional release of all wrongly detained members of the Gaddafi regime.” These figures he said were imprisoned by “ideological militias”. Moreover, he stressed that their release will help Libya “end its plight and overcome its crisis.” His claims were refuted by MP Omar Ghaith Qarmil, who told Asharq Al-Awsat that the detainees do “not have any power in achieving the national reconciliation.” The Libyan parliament in Tobruk had in July 2015 approved an amnesty law for all crimes committed between February 2011 and until the time of its release. Khaled al-Zaidi, therefore, called on the general prosecutor and so-called Government of National Accord to release the prisoners. He cited discrimination in holding trials in the country, noting that the amnesty law is being selectively applied. Moreover, he demanded that the amnesty law be suspended until the necessary legal balance is restored “given that it is being implemented only against the weak.”