Tripoli, 27 June:
Melinda Taylor, the International Criminal Court Lawyer (ICC) currently being detained in Zintan, has been allowed to phone her . . .[restrict]husband and two-year old daughter, it has been reported.
According to the American news agency ABC, the call took place when an Australian official visited Zintan to make the request and discuss her situation.
“You’ve got no idea what a boost it has given all the family,” the lawyer’s mother, Janelle Taylor, said. “We feel a little weight has lifted off our shoulders, but there’s an awful lot still there.
Australia’s foreign minister, Bob Carr said that Taylor was “in good spirits”, adding that this was the first phone contact she had made since being arrested on 7 June.
Taylor, along with three other ICC representatives, were detained following allegations that she attempted to smuggle “dangerous documents” to Saif Al-Islam Qaddafi, for whom she is acting as a defence representative.
Both the Australian government and the ICC have issued repeated calls for the team to be released on the grounds of diplomatic immunity, but the Libyan government has said that Taylor and her Lebenese interpreter, Helene Assaf, would be held whilst an investigation is carried out.
The two other members of the ICC team, Spaniard Estaban Peralta Losilla and Russian Alexander Khodakov, have reportedly volunteered to stay with the women until they are released. [/restrict]
