Tripoli – A chief of staff to a senior politician in Libya’s capital who was abducted earlier this month by armed men has been freed, according to images broadcast by the interim government.
Rida Faraj Fraitis, chief of staff of the First Deputy Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity, was freed on Monday, the sources said, after he was kidnapped on August 2.
Images on Facebook broadcast by Libya’s interim government showed Fraitis being welcomed by local officials in the eastern city of Benghazi.
The broadcast did not provide any information on the identity of his kidnappers.
An interior ministry official confirmed his release. The official said Fraitis had come to no harm while in detention.
The UN mission in Libya a week ago “condemned” the abduction, which it noted came after a number of cases of “illegal arrests and detention, enforced disappearances, torture and extrajudicial killings” over the past year.
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Libya was gripped by violence and political turmoil in the aftermath of the 2011 Nato-backed uprising that ousted and killed dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
In recent years, the oil-rich country was split between two rival administrations backed by foreign powers and myriad militias.
After eastern strongman Khalifa Haftar’s forces were routed from the country’s west last year, the two camps in October signed a ceasefire in Geneva.
An interim administration was established in March to prepare for presidential and parliamentary polls on December 24.
But preparations for those elections have foundered, despite 2.8 million voters being registered.
The 75 delegates selected by the United Nations to guide the political transition have yet to agree on a constitutional basis for the December polls.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Getty Images
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