12/2/2023–|Last updated: 12/2/202307:21 AM (Mecca time)
The Libyan authorities released 4 Palestinians belonging to the Palestinian resistance movement (Hamas), after eight continuous years of detention, on charges of forming a secret foreign organization on Libyan soil, possessing weapons, conspiring against state security, and smuggling weapons to Hamas in Gaza.
According to what was reported by Libyan media yesterday, Friday, the release of the Palestinian detainees came with Turkish intervention, which explains the transfer of the four detainees to the Turkish city of Istanbul on a private plane after their release.
On February 21, 2019, the Libyan court issued severe sentences ranging between 17 and 22 years against Marwan Abdel Qader Al-Ashqar, who heads a technological devices company in Tripoli for years, and his son Baraa, Moayed Jamal Abed, and Nasib Muhammad Shabeer, all of whom They work for the same company part-time.
The four Palestinians were arrested on October 6, 2016, from their places of residence in the Libyan capital, after an armed group raided their homes and placed them in the “Al-Rada” prison near the “Maitiga” area in Tripoli.
So far, there has been no official comment from the Libyan government about the news, while the media circulated pictures and names of those who were released while they were on a private plane.
Al Jazeera Net tried to communicate with a number of Hamas leaders in Turkey, who in turn refused to comment on the incident, but they confirmed the arrival of the four Palestinians to Istanbul yesterday, Friday morning.
Al Jazeera Net also contacted one of the relatives of those released, who also confirmed the release of his relative and three of his companions who had been detained in the “Al Rada” prison in Tripoli since 2016, and their arrival in the city of Istanbul on Friday morning, adding that the families of the detainees had initial news about the issuance of a decision to release. About the four detainees for nearly a month.
He added that Hamas “did not hesitate to make any political efforts or take effective steps aimed at resolving the issue of the detainees, but we previously reported that the decision to release them would not be made easily due to the presence of what is called an ‘American veto’ preventing their release, which created pressure.” “It is difficult for the Libyan government to ignore their case.”
In previous statements, Hamas had denounced the trial of the four Palestinians on charges of smuggling weapons into the Gaza Strip. The movement said, in a statement, that the detainees “resided inside Libya for the purpose of studying and obtaining a living, and their greatest concern is for their land to be liberated and to return to their homes and homeland.”
Political analysts close to the Hamas movement considered that the arrest of 4 people on charges of smuggling weapons to the movement in the Gaza Strip represents Libya’s submission to the wishes of the United States.
During a previous press conference in September 2017, the head of the Investigations Department in the Office of the Public Prosecutor in Tripoli, Al-Siddiq Al-Sur, said that the detainees disclosed secrets related to state security, violated Libyan sovereignty, and smuggled weapons to neighboring countries, especially Egypt.
