Italian Fishermen Detained in Libya Freed: Italy's FM

On Thursday, a group of 18 Italian fishermen. who were held by Libyan patrol boats in September while fishing in the Mediterranean, have been freed by authorities in eastern Libya, according to Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio.

The Sicilian fishermen were arrested by the Libyan National Army (LNA) over charges of fishing in Libyan territorial waters.

In a statement, the Italian top diplomat added that the prolonged imprisonment of the group had become a political embarrassment for Italy’s government, with critics accusing ministers of failing to settle the matter with the LNA commander Khalifa Haftar.

The sailors, including Italian and Tunisian nationals, were accused of operating in Libya’s territorial waters. Italy disputed this.

“Our sailors are free,” Di Maio said in a post on Facebook shortly after he and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte flew to Benghazi for talks with Haftar.

On 1 September, the Libyan Navy arrested eighteen Italian fishermen for illegally entering Libyan waters. In 2015, four young Libyans in Sicily were sentenced by the magistrates of Catania to 30 years in prison. They were accused of organizing a crossing from Libya, in which 49 migrants died. Libya is seeking a prisoner swap with the Italian government. Rome has claimed it refused to be “blackmailed” over this issue.

Last week, the European Union appealed to Libyan authorities to immediately release the Italian fishermen detained in Benghazi since September.

This appeal came in the final document of the European summit, which was held on Thursday and Friday in Brussels.