Tripoli, 17 October:
Forty-nine Egyptians currently being held in detention are to be deported, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday.
The men . . .[restrict]are being held at two separate facilities, Ain Zara prison in Tripoli and a second prison in Misrata.
Egyptian Foreign Affairs Minister Amr Rushdie said that charge d’affairs at the embassy in Tripoli is currently in discussions with the Libyan authorities to arrange the deportation.
Rushdi said that the Egyptian embassy was aware that 47 Egyptian were being held in the mentioned prisons and that it had sent a representative to visit the detainees in prison to check on their condition and the circumstances surrounding their arrest and coming deportation.
The diplomat pointed-out that 32 of the detainees were infected with the Hepatitis C virus. Libyan regulations stipulate that anyone carrying the disease should not be granted a visa to enter the country out of concerns over spreading the infection.
The embassy is also finalising the deportation procedures of two further Egyptian citizens currently held in Ain Zara prison, one of whom was accused of drug abuse and the second for the possession of a forged health certificate.
Rushdie said that nine others did not have legitimate residency permit to stays in Libya, whilst the remaining four were being held on other charges.
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