By Ashraf Abdul Wahab.
17 February 2014:
Fourteen soldiers, including eight senior officers, who were members of Qaddafi armed . . .[restrict]forces have been freed in Zawia to mark the third anniversary of the revolution.
They had been held for over two years at the Jazeera Correction and Rehabilitation Institution in the town yesterday morning after the Zawia Military Intelligence Department decided there was no case against them.
The fourteen included a brigadier and seven colonels as well as sergeants and privates. They had been accused of having contributed to the suppression of the 17 February Revolution.
According to the head of the National Committee of Prisoners Welfare and Prisons Control, investigations had uncovered some minor wrongdoing, but nothing serious and that they certainly had not been involved in any major crimes such as murder. He said that the 14 had been model prisoners, showing good behaviour during their period in prison.
They were not seen as a threat, he added, and as such they were not been named so as to protect their identities and give them the opportunity to prove their good intentions and reintegrate into society.
On Thursday, however, (writes Taziz Hasairi) the release of three members of a local family accused of having fought with Qaddafi forces during the siege of Zawia in 2011 sparked outrage and clashes to the east of the town in which five people were reportedly killed, 15 injured and the road to Tripoli temporarily closed. One of the dead was said to be an elderly man from Sorman shot in the head while driving his vehicle on the Tripoli road. [/restrict]
