TRIPOLI (AFP) — A Libyan political activist held since 2004 for criticising the government has been released from custody, the Kadhafi Foundation announced on Tuesday.
"Fathi al-Jahmi is free and he was handed over to his family on Monday," president of the human rights unit of the Foundation Salah Abdessalem told AFP.
New-York based Human Rights Watch had been calling for the immediate and unconditional release of the 66-year-old since the end of January after reporting he was "seriously ill and needed urgent medical care."
The Foundation, a charity led by Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's son, Seif Al-Islam, had denied the HWR claims.
Jahmi had most recently been held under guard at Tripoli General Hospital's cardiology ward.
He was hospitalised eight months ago and was given all the medical assistance he needed, Abdessalem said, adding he had been moved to his family home.
The United States has repeatedly called for the release of Jahmi, whose case was raised with Libyan Foreign Minister Abdelrahman Shalgham when he visited Washington in early January, according to the State Department.
Tripoli had claimed Jahmi was "mentally disturbed" and being held "for his own security" after having made remarks against the regime and Kadhafi that "stirred anger among the population."
A court in September 2006 ordered his hospitalisation in a psychiatric unit, according to Libyan authorities.
HRW said he was first arrested in October 2002 after criticising Kadhafi's government and calling for elections, a free press and the release of political prisoners in Libya, which insists it holds no such detainees.
Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
