Libya: Two Swiss in 'good conditions'

Sun Oct 25, 2009

Libya's deputy foreign minister has said two Swiss citizens, who have been barred from leaving the oil-rich country since June last year, are being held in 'good conditions'.

The two businessmen have been caught in the middle of a 14-month-long row between the two countries, sparked after one of Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi's son was briefly arrested in Geneva over charges of beating two servants at a luxury hotel.

"The two Swiss have not been kidnapped," Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim was quoted as saying by the Swiss newspaper NZZ am Sonntag.

The comments come just days after Bern accused Tripoli of having kidnapped the two men.

The Libyan official added that the Swiss nationals were just being held at 'a house' in a safe location, in 'accordingly good circumstances, even if they would rather be in another place'.

On Thursday, Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey warned Libya that as diplomatic routes had been exhausted, the Alpine country was considering other options

She further criticized Tripoli's failure to honor former promises.

Last month, the two men, who had taken refuge at the Swiss embassy, were asked by Libyan authorities to undergo a medical check-up to be cleared for leaving the country.

Swiss diplomats and relatives have not had any contact with the two since then.

Despite domestic anger, Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz officially apologized to the Libyan people over the arrest of Gadhafi's son.

Hannibal Gadhafi's arrest so enraged the eccentric Libyan leader that he filed a motion with the United Nations, asking for the abolishment of Switzerland as a state and dividing it between neighboring countries. The UN threw out the motion.

Even before the extraordinary request, Gadhafi, who has lead the country for the past four decades, began a chain of retaliatory acts, canceling oil supplies to Switzerland and withdrawing substantial funds from Swiss banks.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://edition.presstv.ir/detail/109611.html.