TRIPOLI (AFP): A Libyan court reinstated Seif al-Islam Kadhafi, son of slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi, as a candidate in next month’s presidential election, the latest twist in an increasingly shaky transition.

Seif al-Islam had emerged in July after years in the shadows, telling media that he was planning a political comeback to “restore the lost unity” of Libya, a decade after it was plunged into chaos by the 2011 NATO-backed revolt that overthrew and killed his father.

He had been the first heavyweight candidate to register for the election, part of a UN-brokered process aimed at bringing peace to the North African nation.

But the electoral commission last month rejected his application, pointing 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.

The government in Tripoli said that Seif al-Islam had lodged an appeal in the southern city of Sebha, but last week a “group of outlaws” launched an “odious” attack on the court, forcing it to shut hours before the hearing.