By Libya Herald reporters.
Tunis, 28 June 2017:
A Libyan national has reportedly taken refuge in the Libyan consulate in Jeddah following the arrest of two colleagues at the airport as they were heading home after performing Umrah.
The Government of National Accord’s (GNA) foreign ministry is urging Saudi Arabia to explain the arrest of the men, named as Mahmoud Ben-Rajab and Mohammed Hussein Al-Khadrawi.
The Libyan who has sought protection in the consulate, Hussein Zahait, has used social media to protest the arrest of his two colleagues.
The Saudis have yet to respond to the request from Tripoli but it is understood that the two men detained at the airport men have been implicated in the 2014 Tripoli kidnapping of five Egyptian diplomats, who were only released after the Egyptians freed Shaaban Hadia Al-Zawi, beter known as Abu Obeida, head of the Islamist Libyan Revolutionaries Operation Room (LROR), who had been detained in Alexandria.
Zawi, who was later that year reportedly injured and captured in fighting in Warshefana, was believed to have been involved in the brief kidnapping of the-then prime ministerAli Zeidan from his suite at Tripoli’s Corinthia Hotel.