By Libya Herald reporter.
Misrata, 23 September 2015:
At least 45 Qaddafi soldiers held in Misrata were freed today. One report put the . . .[restrict]number at 60. All are Libyan and were regular army soldiers who had fught aganst the revolution, not mercenaries. Some had been held for as long as four years, other were said to have been captured more recently although the circumstances have not been divulged.
All were being held at the military police station in the city’s Seket district. Their release was ordered by Colonel Sharif Arhuma, the military police chief for the central area (from Sirte to Khoms).
The soldiers’ freedom, coinciding with Eid, is another sign of Misrata’s efforts at reconciliation with its former opponents.
Just before Eid Ak-Fitr, Arhuma freed 40 prisoners who he said “had proved their innocence”.
There have been a number of other prisoner releases.
At the beginning of July, Misrata Municipal Council ordered investigations be carried out into the cases of all prisoners languishing in jails in the city without trial. The aim it said was to get them released as soon as possible.
The UN-brokered Libya Dialogue agreement which Misrata supports contains a commitment to end the illegal detention of prisoners. That includes prisoners held in militia and non-official jails. [/restrict]
