By Saber Ayyub
Tripoli, 14 March 2016:
Two Libyan businessmen arrested in the UAE eighteen months ago on terror charges have been cleared . . .[restrict]by a local court and released.
Adel Nasef and Muad Al-Hashmi who walked free from a Dubai courtroom today were among five Libyans arrested in August 2014 and accused of being supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood. Their long detention without trial bought protests from Human Rights Watch and expressions of concern from the Canadian and US governments, because three of the Libyans hold dual nationality.
It has not yet been revealed why the Federal Court judge decided to throw out the case against the pair. The fate of the remaining three businessmen is not yet clear. All had insisted that they were placed under duress to try and make them sign confessions. At the start of the month, two defendants, father and son Kamal and Mohamed Elderat, persuaded a local judge to order an investigation in their allegations that they had been tortured.
HRW has maintained that not only were the Libyans abused, beaten and forced to sign confessions but they were also denied access to lawyers. [/restrict]
