Forty-six out of seventy Egyptians detained by Libyan authorities are to be deported due to illegally residing in the country, Libya’s envoy in Cairo, Mohamed Fayez Gebril said on Egyptian state radio at 8 pm on Friday.
Earlier, Egyptian state news agency MENA had said the 70 Egyptians were detained from the Ain Zara, Salahaldin, and Souk Al-Gomaa areas of Libya’s capital, Tripoli and transferred to a “crime prevention centre.”
Gebril said the rest of the detainees are still being investigated.
According to MENA, Egypt’s foreign ministry, presidency, and cabinet are currently working to follow the case and secure their release.
The foreign ministry renewed its advice to Egyptians to be cautious, and to travel to Libya by plane and only if necessary.
In January, Libyan militants took seven Egyptian diplomats hostage in Tripoli in response to the arrest of a Libyan militia figure by Egyptian authorities. The diplomatic staff was released several days later.
Families of detained angry
Families of the detained told Al-Ahram’s Arabic news website that the Egyptian foreign ministry has a history of mismanaging such situations.
Members of the family said to Al-Ahram that they were told by Egyptian neighbors of the detained who weren’t arrested that they were taken from their homes in the middle of the night and claimed that the actual number of the detained exceeds 70 and demanded to know why the “real” numbers weren’t announced.
Khairi Abu Eisha, one of the residents of Kalhana village in Fayoum governorate where many of the detained hail from, accused the Egyptian envoy to Libya of dealing lightly with such incidents, according to Al-Ahram.
Source : Ahram online
