Libya PM ‘freed’ after being held for many hours by militia
11 Oct 2013 6:54 AM IST
Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan was released on Thursday several hours after being seized from a Tripoli hotel by former rebel militiamen, the foreign minister said.
‘He has been freed but we have no details so far on the circumstances of his release,’ Mohammed Abdelaziz said.
The pre-dawn seizure of Zeidan came five days after US commandos embarrassed and angered Libya’s government by capturing senior Al-Qaeda suspect Abu Anas al-Libi off the streets of Tripoli and whisking him away to a warship.
A source in the premier’s office said Zeidan had been taken by gunmen from Tripoli’s Corinthia Hotel, where he resides. A hotel employee confirmed a pre-dawn raid by ‘a large number of armed men’.
A government statement said Zeidan had been taken ‘to an unknown destination for unknown reasons by a group’ of men believed to be former rebels.
The Operations Cell of Libyan Revolutionaries, comprising former rebels and which had roundly denounced Libi’s abduction and blamed Zeidan’s government for it, said it had ‘arrested’ Zeidan under orders from the public prosecutor.
But the cabinet said on its Facebook page that ministers were ‘unaware of immunity being lifted or of any arrest warrant’ for the premier.
Thursday’s government statement said it suspected both the Operations Cell of Libyan Revolutionaries and the Brigade for the Fight against Crime of being behind the raid that netted Zeidan.
The groups loosely fall under defence and interior ministries’ control but operate autonomously.
‘He has been freed but we have no details so far on the circumstances of his release,’ Mohammed Abdelaziz said.
The pre-dawn seizure of Zeidan came five days after US commandos embarrassed and angered Libya’s government by capturing senior Al-Qaeda suspect Abu Anas al-Libi off the streets of Tripoli and whisking him away to a warship.
A source in the premier’s office said Zeidan had been taken by gunmen from Tripoli’s Corinthia Hotel, where he resides. A hotel employee confirmed a pre-dawn raid by ‘a large number of armed men’.
A government statement said Zeidan had been taken ‘to an unknown destination for unknown reasons by a group’ of men believed to be former rebels.
The Operations Cell of Libyan Revolutionaries, comprising former rebels and which had roundly denounced Libi’s abduction and blamed Zeidan’s government for it, said it had ‘arrested’ Zeidan under orders from the public prosecutor.
But the cabinet said on its Facebook page that ministers were ‘unaware of immunity being lifted or of any arrest warrant’ for the premier.
Thursday’s government statement said it suspected both the Operations Cell of Libyan Revolutionaries and the Brigade for the Fight against Crime of being behind the raid that netted Zeidan.
The groups loosely fall under defence and interior ministries’ control but operate autonomously.
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