Arab Parliament speaker congratulates Libyan people and NTC

Libyan rebel fighters ride through the town of Maia celebrating after advancing to the outskirts of Tripoli. The speaker of the Arab Parliament, which is made up of 88 MPs from various Arab countries and meets in the Arab League, has issued a statement congratulating the Libyan people and the NTC for "the success of liberating Libya from the rule of the tyrant Muammar Gaddafi." Ali Salem Al Duqbasy said "the ruler who does not listen to his people's demands of freedom and peaceful circulation of power will have the fate of tyrants," adding that Libya will witness a civilised period of transition based on principles of democracy, rule of law, and human rights. Nabil al-Araby, the Arab League secretary-general, has also issued a statement expressing his full support for the NTC.
Senior rebel council officials had entered Tripoli before the rebel offensive to take the city, and are now attempting to organise security in the capital. "At the top of the plan is security," said Abdullah Gzema, a member of the rebels' National Transitional Council (NTC), in the east Libyan rebel bastion of Benghazi. "They have contacted the people belonging to the local committees. There is communication," said Gzema.
"We will work with them, except for those who were very close to Gaddafi, but I think they have gone already" said another senior NTC member, Suleiman al Sahli, who is in charge of education.  "We will work together," he said. "Security is the first priority for us, for everyone," said al-Sahli.
More international support for the fall of Gaddafi included Poland who welcomed the end of Muammar Gaddafi's rule over Libya. "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomes the end of a 42-year rule of Col. Gaddafi in Libya," an official statement said. "We are convinced that Colonel Moamer Kadhafi and his closest aides will answer for his crimes in Libya or before the International Criminal Court in The Hague." "The international community, including the European Union and Poland, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU Council, is ready to provide comprehensive assistance for the Libyan partners and friends in this difficult process." While in Greece, The Libyan embassy has been ransacked, with portraits of Muammar Gaddafi defaced and torn down. The Libyan flag has been torn down and replaced by the rebels' tri-colour flag. Whereas at the Libyan embassy in Kuwait, the flag of Muammar Gaddafi's government has been lowered and burnt by Libyans. A group of about 30 people came to the embassy in Dueya. Libyan ambassador Mohammad Al-Mubarak said he has joined the National Transitional Council (NTC), and recognised it as the sole and legitimate representative of the Libyan people. Mubarak told Kuwait's KUNA news agency that as of Monday "the embassy will operate as a representative of the Libyan people under the NTC."
The International Organisation for Migration has sent a ship to Tripoli to evacuate migrants trapped there. The ship can carry up to 300 migrants. "The IOM chartered boat, which has a capacity to carry 300 people, left the eastern city of Benghazi Monday morning... The boat, the Tasucu, is due to arrive in Tripoli on Tuesday and will leave for Benghazi as soon as IOM is able to successfully board the migrants," said the inter-governmental agency. Whereas Amnesty International has called on all involved in the Libyan conflict "to protect the rights of civilians and safeguard them from attack". "These are momentous but extremely dangerous days for the people of Libya. All forces must respect the rights of civilians and ensure that the fighting in Tripoli and elsewhere does not result in reprisals," said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Director.
Live pictures less than a kilometre from Tripoli show armed rebels and people gathering in numbers on the streets. AFP reports that Libyan rebels in trucks, cars and pick-up trucks are streaming into Tripoli from western parts of the country. An AFP reporter saw about 40 vehicles pass by in a short span of time, including a rubbish truck with 35 fighters on board. The trucks appeared to be heading towards Green Square.
It has been reported by Al Arabiya that one of Gadhafi's sons, Al-Mutassim, is in Bab-Al-Azizya compound in Tripoli, while Libyan Prime Minister Al Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi is on the Tunisian island of Djerba, Al Jazeera has learnt. Abdallah Mansour, the head of the country's television union, is accompanying him. Meanwhile, The Libyan embassy in Damascus has said in a statement that it is siding with the rebel National Transitional Council in the conflict in Libya, AFP reports. "We, the ambassadors and members of the Libyan embassy in Damascus, announce our total support for the revolution of February 17 and declare our formal adherence to the National Transitional Council," it said in a statement.
With their ongoign advancement to nearing Gaddafi's compound, Libyan rebel sources have told Al Jazeera that NATO is planning on launching strikes against the walls of Gaddafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound, in order to break into it. The rebels are calling for all residents of the area to stay away from the compound. Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi have stationed tanks near his compound in central Tripoli and are resisting rebel attacks, a rebel official told Reuters by telephone. "The situation is not stable. There is gunfire everywhere. Gaddafi's forces are using tanks at the port and Al Sarine street near (Gaddafi's compound at) Bab al-Aziziyah," said the rebel official in Tripoli, who gave his name as Abdulrahman. "The revolutionaries are positioned everywhere in Tripoli, some of them are near Bab al-Aziziyah, but Gaddafi's forces have been trying to resist." "(Gaddafi's) snipers are the main problem for the revolutionaries. There is a big number of martyrs, including my brother and two of my neighbours," he said, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, Police have surrounded the Libyan embassy in Sarajevo, Bosnia, after a number of people entered the building and threw pictures of Muammar Gaddafi out the window. They raised the rebels' tricolour flag and demanded that Salem A. A. Finnir, the Libyan ambassador, quit. Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, has reiterated the French commitment to supporting the National Transitional Council and called for forces loyal to Colonel Gaddafi to lay down their arms. He has also invited its chief, Mahmud Jibril, to visit Paris next Wednesday. Jibril, meanwhile, has told Al Arabiya television that there have been no negotiations between the rebels and the ICC on handing over Saif al-Islam Gaddafi. He has also said that  Gaddafi's whereabouts remain unknown.
The International Criminal Court is seeking the transfer of Moamer Kadhafi's son Seif al-Islam to The Hague to face charges of crimes against humanity, the court's spokesman said Monday. "The court as a whole is involved," Fadi El-Abdallah told AFP, answering 'yes' when asked if that meant discussions were underway with the Libyan rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) over Seif al-Islam's transfer. Earlier Monday the court's prosecutor Louis Moreno-Ocampo said Seif al-Islam, 39, was arrested and in detention, calling for his swift transfer. "We hope he can soon be in The Hague" to face judgement, Moreno-Ocampo said as he indicated he was planning to contact the "Libyan transitional government" later in the day. Seif al-Islam is accused together with his father with orchestrating a plan to put down the Libyan revolt by "any means necessary" since it was sparked in mid-February. This included the murder of hundreds of pro-freedom Libyan protestors and injuring hundreds of others when security forces shot a crowds using live ammunition, as well as the arrest and torture of numerous others. Before the revolt erupted, Seif al-Islam was increasingly seen as a successor to his father, despite publicly ruling out any dynastic ambitions in the North African country. Described as the Libyan strongman's de facto prime minister and most influential person within his inner circle, Seif al-Islam is wanted because he "espoused and executed Moamer Kadhafi's plan which led to the commission of the crimes", a court document stated. "Relevant to the prosecutor's application, Seif al-Islam exercised control over crucial parts of the state apparatus, including finances and logistics," said the ICC's decision to grant arrest warrants against Kadhafi, his son and Libyan spymaster Abdullah al-Senussi on June 27. "There are reasonable ground to believe that Moamer Kadhafi and Seif al-Islam's orders to any branch of the state apparatus automatically activated the state machinery," the court document added.
A top State Department diplomat, Jeffrey Feltman, the US assistant secretary of state said "it's only a matter of time now" before besieged Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has to step down. Feltman says "I think what's clear is that the rebels are winning." He says U.S. officials don't know Gadhafi's whereabouts. Interviewed on ABC's "Good Morning America" Monday from Cairo, Feltman says "the rebels are clearly taking over the city. They are clearly taking over the institutions." He says American officials have been told the rebels have seized control of Libya's state television. Asked whether he believes the al Qaida terrorist network will gain new footing in Libya, Feltman says the first step in a post-Gadhafi setting is "trying to prevent some kind of cycle where people act out their own retributions," as happened when Saddam Hussein fell in Iraq.
Sky News reported that Libyan rebels say they are advancing north from Gharyan towards Tripoli where a convoy of about 100 rebel vehicles is now moving towards the capital. Meanwhile, the EU Commission has announced that sanctions on Libya are to remain in place for the time being, Reuters reported. "For the moment ... [EU] sanctions will remain in place, but we can always lift them fairly rapidly," a spokesman for the EU's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, has told a regular news briefing. The European Union has issued a statement saying that it stands ready to help Libya's interim administration carry out reforms in the future. About 50 Libyan entities are subject to the EU's sanctions, in addition to more than 30 individuals who face asset freezes and travel bans.
With heavy fighting reaching the compound of Libyan leader Colonel Gadaffi's compound, hackers have also taken virtual arms overnight and defaced the website of domain name registry nic.ly. Hackers calling themselves "Electr0n" have defaced the nic.ly website, the main registry which administers .ly domain names (the ".ly" stands for "Libya") and replaced it with a defiant message:

    [+] HACKED By Electr0n[+]
    &
    |~| ali monder |~|

    bye bye Qadaffi
    Feb 17 Libya

    Greetz to
    Dr.exe | Qnix | Rock-Master | LoverBoy | r1z
    And All Muslim Hackers :)

The data February 17th relates to when Libyan protesters began their demonstrations only to be shot upon by security forces loyal to Colonel Gadaffi.
Meanwhile, France aims to host a meeting of international partners as soon as next week to discuss a roadmap for the future of Libya, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Monday. Juppe said it was not yet clear whether Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was still in Tripoli and called on his supporters to lay down their arms. "We propose an extraordinary meeting of the contact group at the highest level as soon as next week to lay out an action plan with the Libyan authorities," the minister said. French President Nicolas Sarkozy will speak by telephone later on Monday with Mahmoud Jibril, leader of Libya's National Transitional Council, and Jibril is expected in Paris "in the coming days", Juppe said.