Amal Bayou (; – 24 October 2017) was a Libyan microbiologist and politician who served in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

from 2014 until her death in 2017. Bayou was a prominent advocate for

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

and social change in Libya, and was considered to be an "extremely popular" politician in the country.

Biography

Amal Bayou was born between 1957 and 1959. She received a

doctoral degree A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

microbiology Microbiology () is the branches of science, scientific study of microorganisms, those being of unicellular organism, unicellular (single-celled), multicellular organism, multicellular (consisting of complex cells), or non-cellular life, acellula ...

from a university in Germany, and spent "a long time" in the country. At some point, Bayou returned to Libya, becoming a professor of microbiology at the University of Benghazi in 1995; she held this position until her death in 2017. In the

2014 Libyan parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Libya on 25 June 2014 for the House of Representatives. Whilst all candidates ran as independents, the elections saw nationalist and liberal factions win the majority of seats, with Islamist groups being re ...

, Bayou was elected to the

Libyan House of Representatives Demographics of Libya is the demography of Libya, specifically covering population density, ethnicity, and religious affiliations, as well as other aspects of the Libyan population. All figures are from the United Nations Demographic Yearbook ...

, representing one of

Benghazi Benghazi () () is the List of cities in Libya, second-most-populous city in Libya as well as the largest city in Cyrenaica, with an estimated population of 859,000 in 2023. Located on the Gulf of Sidra in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, Ben ...

's reserved seats for women. Bayou received 14,086 votes, the third highest vote-count in the entire election. The House of Representatives, which was one of two major factions in the

Second Libyan Civil War The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

fighting against the

Government of National Accord The Government of National Accord (GNA; ) was an interim government for Libya that was formed under the terms of the Libyan Political Agreement, a United Nations–led initiative, signed on 17 December 2015. The agreement was unanimously endors ...

– controlled

eastern Libya Cyrenaica ( ) or Kyrenaika (, , after the city of Cyrene), is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between the 16th and 25th meridians east, including the Kufra District. The coastal region, als ...

and met in the city of Benghazi. Bayou was a supporter of keeping the ''de facto'' capital in Benghazi, as she stated that the local militias would protect the House of Representatives similar to how they protected the

National Transitional Council The National Transitional Council (NTC) was a transitional government established in the 2011 Libyan civil war. After rebel forces overthrew the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya of Muammar Gaddafi in August 2011, the NTC governed Libya for a further ...

during the 2011 civil war. However, after her nephew was killed during a missile strike on the city in early 2015, Bayou joined the rest of the House of Representatives in fleeing to the eastern port city of

Tobruk Tobruk ( ; ; ) is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near the border with Egypt. It is the capital of the Butnan District (formerly Tobruk District) and has a population of 120,000 (2011 est.)."Tobruk" (history), ''Encyclop� ...

. Considered to be "extremely popular", Bayou was a strong critic of the power-structures in Libya during her tenure. A staunch opponent of Abdullah al-Thani, the House of Representatives-backed claimant for the prime ministership of Libya, she disputed claims that he was the victim of an assassination attempt in 2015, alleging that it was a "farce in an attempt to whitewash im. Later in 2015, when al-Thani offered his resignation to the House of Representatives due to the worsening situation in the country, Bayou stated that his government was weak and had been a "failure", and that he was "incompetent". She also criticized Sadiq Al-Ghariani, the

grand mufti A Grand Mufti (also called Chief Mufti, State Mufti and Supreme Mufti) is a title for the leading Faqīh, Islamic jurist of a country, typically Sunni, who may oversee other muftis. Not all countries with large Sunni Muslim populations have Gra ...

of Libya, whom the House of Representatives accused of supporting Islamist militias and terrorist groups; Bayou stated that "the parliament will not hesitate to take decisive measures towards the mufti". Throughout her life, Bayou supported "various social and political initiatives", and was a prominent advocate for

in the country. One of 32 women elected to the House of Representatives in 2014, Bayou was a proponent for reserved seats for women in parliament, stating: "I was initially opposed to the introduction of a women's quota in the national elections. But now I think it is necessary. Libyan society is simply not yet ready for equality". She also criticized the slow-progress in advancing women's rights in the country following the Libyan Revolution, and stated that women were still being considered "

second-class citizen A second-class citizen is a person who is systematically and actively discriminated against within a state or other political jurisdiction, despite their nominal status as a citizen or a legal resident there. While not necessarily slaves, ou ...

s". In 2015, she spoke at a conference held by the European Parliament Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, discussing "challenges and opportunities in women's political participation". Bayou also provided aid to families whose relatives had been killed or were went missing during the Libyan Crisis, and co-founded a youth initiative called "Youth of Benghazi Libya". Bayou died of cancer on 24 October 2017, and she is buried in the Hawari cemetery. Following her death, members of the House of Representatives from across the political spectrum offered condolences. The '' Libya Herald'' wrote that her death "robs he House of Representativesof an active campaigner who tried to promote compromise between the different factions, notably between those who boycotted the House of Representatives and those who joined in". As Bayou died in office, a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

would typically have been called to elect her replacement; however, due to the political situation of Libya, it is unknown if the High National Election Commission was able to organize the by-election.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bayou, Amal Year of birth uncertain Date of birth missing Place of birth missing Place of death missing 1950s births 2017 deaths Libyan scientists Libyan women academics 20th-century Libyan women 20th-century Libyan people 21st-century Libyan women Academic staff of the University of Benghazi Members of the House of Representatives (Libya) Libyan women in politics 21st-century Libyan politicians Libyan feminists Libyan women activists Libyan democracy activists People from Benghazi Deaths from cancer in Libya 20th-century women scientists 20th-century biologists Women microbiologists Proponents of Islamic feminism