By Libya Herald reporter.
Misrata, 9 August 2015:
Former Qaddafi regime grand mufti Madani Shweref has been released after serving one and a . . .[restrict]half years of a seven-year jail sentence.
Shortly after midday today he was handed into the care of elders from his hometown of Zliten who gave an undertaking of good behaviour on his part and who then took him home.
The 85-year-old was found guilty in March last year of spreading misinformation during the revolution.
An appeal court had ordered his release on grounds of ill health and old age, but the authorities in Misrata had not done so. They claimed that his release could provoke public protests and they were also concerned for his safety – that once freed, someone might try to kill him. This then led to negotiations involving Misrata and Zliten municipal councils as well as other organisations together with a number of notable figures in Zliten, and which today resulted in his release.
At today’s handover ceremony, an official disclosed that the town was working to free other prisoners, but there serious fears too for their safety.
Madani was grand mufti until 1983 when Qaddafi abolished the post. [/restrict]
