- PARIS: A Brazilian reporter who was freed from detention in Libya has urged Muammar Qaddafi’s government to release a colleague from a British newspaper who is still held in the violence-wracked country.
Andrei Netto says he believes he was released after eight days because of “good ties” between Brazil and Libya. He fears for the fate of colleague Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, an Iraqi national working for The Guardian.
Netto spoke Saturday to The Associated Press after returning from Tripoli via Dubai to Paris, where he is based as a correspondent for Brazil’s Estado de S. Paulo newspaper.
Netto, who was released Thursday, said he and Abdul-Ahad entered Libya through Tunisia and had filed news reports before being detained 10 days ago in the town of Sabratha.