An Australian lawyer being held in Libya over allegations of spying following a visit to Colonel Gaddafi's son will be released if she provides details of where the country's most wanted man is, authorities have said.
 |
 |
| Allegations: Melinda Taylor , left , has been accused of passing documents to Saif al-Islam, right |
Melinda Taylor and her Lebanese-born interpreter Helene Assaf were detained last week while visiting Saif al-Islam Gaddafi in Zintan as part of an International Criminal Court (ICC) team.
Officials in the town alleged that during the meeting the pair were caught passing documents to Saif al-Islam from his fugitive right-hand man Mohammed Ismail.
Authorities say 36-year-old Ms Taylor had a suspicious pen camera on her and attempted to pass Saif al-Islam - the son of former Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi - a coded letter from the fugitive.
The authorities say if Ms Taylor - who has a two-year-old daughter - was carrying a letter from Ismail, that means she had met the wanted man.
The deal was proposed yesterday by a government official as a second delegation from the ICC visited their colleagues.
Speaking to The Times, Mohammed al-Harizi, a government spokesman, said it was very important for the country's new rulers to catch Ismail.
He said: 'We do not have anything against this woman. Just we need some information from her. After that she will be free.'
Human rights groups, the court in The Hague, and the Australian government have all demanded that they be released immediately, but Libyan prosecutors say Taylor and Assaf will be held for at least 45 days while they are investigated.
'The delegation as well as ambassadors for their (the detained ICC staff) countries visited them,' said Ahmed al-Gehani, a Libyan lawyer who is in charge of the Saif al-Islam case and liaises between the government and the ICC.
'They are well, they are in a guesthouse, not in a prison. They have food, water, and are being treated well.'
The incident underscored the problem complicating negotiations over the ICC staff: Zintan is effectively outside the control of the central government.
Instead, it is the brigade in Zintan, which captured Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam in November and has since refused to transfer him to the capital, which is, de facto, in charge.
© Daily Mail, London |
E-mail
