It’s springtime for radical Islam in Africa. Good thing we got rid of that dictator who was suppressing groups like Al Qaeda, huh? So much better.

“Any law that violates sharia is null and void legally,” he said, citing as an example the law on marriage passed during the slain dictator’s 42-year tenure that imposed restrictions on polygamy, which is permitted in Islam.

“The law of divorce and marriage… This law is contrary to sharia and it is stopped,” Abdel Jalil said.

His comments have provoked criticism and calls for restraint both in Libya and in Europe, amid fears that the Arab Spring may give rise to a potentially intolerant Islamist resurgence.

Many Libyans awaiting Sunday’s historic speech expressed surprise at the decision by the National Transitional Council leader to mention the role of sharia law in the new country before addressing such important issues as security and education.

Considering Sharia is a discriminatory system, we shouldn’t expect “all mean are created equal” proclamations anytime soon. In the mean time, polygamy is now legal and women are forbidden from keeping the home in a divorce in Libya. So there’s that.

Meanwhile in Tunisia:

If official results, which may be released as early as Tuesday, support those results, it would be a substantially better showing for the Islamists than many predicted. The center-left Tekatil Party and a party lead by a leading human-rights activist, the Congress Party for the Republic, looked set to come in second and third. The party most predicted to place second, the staunchly secular Progressive Democratic Party and Nahda’s most outspoken critics, did far worse than expected…

Inside the party’s offices, meanwhile, Nahda’s leaders had already begun wrestling with the burden of their unexpected success. An aide handed Nahda politburo member Said Ferjani a memo from a party number cruncher who predicted the party would win 50% to 55% of seats in the incoming assembly.

So we have Sharia law in Libya and radical Islamists taking over the reigns in Tunisia. And undoubtedly in the latter case we’ll see democracy suppressed once again when public opinion turns against the Islamists because they won’t manage to do crap to improve the country’s standard of living. What an improvement!

Oh, one more thing: It turns out the lovely thugs who captured and summarily executed Gaddafi actually sodomized him with a knife before shooting him in the head. These are the people taking over in Libya. So we have that to look forward to.