ROME: Three Italian activists from a Gaza-bound aid flotilla have been released after a month in prison by authorities controlling eastern Libya, the Italian government said.
Since the fall of Muammar Qaddafi in 2011, Libya has been governed by a UN-recognized government in Tripoli, while a parallel administration based in Benghazi in the east is under the sway of powerful military chief Khalifa Haftar and his sons.
“I am pleased to be able to announce the release of Domenico Centrone and Leonarda Alberizia, the two Italian activists from the Flotilla, who had been held for a month in Libya,” Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani wrote on X on Tuesday evening.
Questioned by AFP on Wednesday in Tunis, Tajani denied any deal with the authorities in eastern Libya for their release, saying “not at all” twice.
“We had to talk to them,” he said, without elaborating.
