The brother of a Swiss national detained in Libya for 17 months has appealed to the authorities to release him as a "humanitarian gesture".
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2 minutes
Moritz Göldi told Swiss television that his brother, Max, was not well and had been suffering from nightmares and anxiety attacks since he and fellow Swiss Rachid Hamdani were abducted by the Libyan authorities and kept in a secret location for a seven-week period.
They were returned to the Swiss embassy on November 9. Göldi said the time in isolation had been an “extremely stressful situation” for his brother.
Göldi told the Rundshau news programme that generosity and hospitality were important traits in Libyan society and so appealed to the government and Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi to allow the two to leave the country.
He also praised the Swiss foreign ministry’s cooperation in calling for their release and said he did not understand criticism of President Hans-Rudolf Merz’s trip to Tripoli to try to secure their release. Earlier this month Rachid Hamdani’s wife Bruna also appealed for them to be freed.
The pair have been detained in Libya since July 2008. They were arrested shortly after the detention of Gaddafi’s son Hannibal in Geneva over charges of mistreating two of his domestic staff. The Swiss nationals were initially arrested and held for ten days and then released, but were refused exit visas.
On November 12, Libya announced the two men had been charged with tax evasion and failing to follow visa regulations and faced a trial.
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Slim Hamdani is relieved his father has been returned to the Swiss embassy in Tripoli
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The son of one of the two Swiss businessmen held in Libya has expressed relief at the news that his father has been handed back to the Swiss embassy in Tripoli. Slim Hamdani, the son of hostage Rachid Hamdani, spoke with World Radio Switzerland’s Adam Beaumont.
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Without the backing of the other members of the Swiss cabinet, Merz apologised to Libya for the detention in Geneva last year of Hannibal Gaddafi and his wife. The apology unleashed condemnation of the move across Switzerland.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.