The Tripoli Appeals Court rejected the candidacy of Libya’s interim Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah for the presidential elections in December.
According to Ihlas News Agency (IHA), the court accepted the petition signed by several people, including former interior minister Fathi Bashagha against Dbeibah’s candidacy.
Bashagha is also running as a candidate in the elections.
Dbeibah has 72 hours to appeal the court’s decision, which was made citing Article 12 of elections law stating that candidates need to resign from their positions three months before the elections.
The candidacy of Libya’s ousted dictator Moammar Gadhafi, Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, was also rejected over his previous convictions.
He was among 25 candidates rejected on legal grounds as well as based on information from officials, including the public prosecutor, it said.
For Seif al-Islam, the Libyan High National Election Commission (HNEC) pointed to articles of the electoral law stipulating that candidates "must not have been sentenced for a dishonourable crime" and must present a clean criminal record.
Seif al-Islam is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes committed during the Libyan uprising.
He was also sentenced to death by a Tripoli court for crimes committed during the revolt that toppled his father, but later pardoned by a rival administration in eastern Libya.
A total of 98 candidates, including two women, had registered for the December polls, according to the HNEC.
Among the most notable hopefuls is putschist Gen. Khalifa Haftar, leader of forces controlling the country's east and parts of the south. He is accused of committing war crimes against civilians. His campaign was supported by Egypt, France the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Russia, but collapsed when militias backing the Tripoli government, with support from Turkey, gained the upper hand.
