The prime minister of Libya’s Government of National Unity has ordered an investigation after a teenage basketball fan was shot in the head during a championship game in Tripoli.
Following Monday’s Libyan Basketball League playoff game between Al Ittihad and Al Ahly Benghazi, there was a disturbance outside the arena that resulted in the death of Abdul Mohimen Al-Falah.
According to local reports, armed security was present in an attempt to quell the violence.
The 19-year-old was flown to Tunisia for medical treatment but died on Thursday.
His family will hold a funeral service on Saturday, and Al Ittihad fans will gather at the stadium to pay their respects.
Al-Falah was a promising youth team player for Al Azima, a second division club.
Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh has delegated responsibility for the investigation to the country’s interior ministry, while the Libyan Olympic Committee has called for more trained security personnel to be deployed at major sporting events.
Despite the country’s ongoing security crisis, which has resulted in the proliferation of firearms, the Libyan Basketball Federation is one of the few sports organizations that allows spectators to attend games.
All games have been postponed until next week by the federation, and Al Ittihad has announced via social media that all club activities will be suspended for the next three days.
Fans have been chanting “Keep your weapons away from our stadiums and our youth” to encourage authorities to take such incidents more seriously.
