TRIPOLI: Libya on Sunday backtracked on a decision to ban women under 40 years old from leaving the country unless they were accompanied by a close male relative.

A brief statement posted on the government website said the foreign ministry “strongly denies any reports that it issued a ban on Libyan women under the age of 40 from travelling without Mahram.”

The official Al-Jamahiriya newspaper reported the ban on Wednesday, one day ahead of International Women's Day, denouncing it as a “flagrant violation of women's rights to freedom of movement.” Sunday's statement said the story referred to “temporary regulations that are no longer valid, and which were issued to remedy negative aspects pertaining to Libyan girls travelling abroad.”

The foreign ministry said security measures “in no way tried to deprive our female citizens from travelling abroad, since there are already Libyan women pilots, judges, lawyers, journalists, politicians, and scientists.”—AFP