Ihab Al-Mismari is a former Libya

Libya

Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....

n Counselor to Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. He is also the son of former protocol chief Nuri Al-Mismari.

On Wednesday, 23 February, he told the Toronto Star

Toronto Star

The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...

 he resigned as counselor because the embassy's chargé d'affaires was "hiding" the gravity of the deadly crackdown back home. "It is my friends who are dying!," he said.

Al-Mismari's decision was due to his embassy's effort aimed at hiding and downplaying the brutal attacks against protesters

2011 Libyan civil war

The 2011 Libyan civil war was an armed conflict in the North African state of Libya, fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and those seeking to oust his government. The war was preceded by protests in Benghazi beginning on 15 February 2011, which led to clashes with security...

in his homeland. He was quoted as saying, "They are killing the friends with whom I grew up; they are killing my brothers and sisters."