Aide to Libyan PM freed a week after abduction

TRIPOLI: A senior adviser to Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has been freed just over a week after unknown abductors snatched him from his car in a Tripoli suburb, the government said yesterday.
Since the end of the 2011 uprising that toppled Muammar Qaddafi, transitional rulers in the oil-producing North African state have struggled to curb lawlessness on the part of militia groups who refuse to lay down their weapons.
Mohammed Al-Ghatous, in his 50s, was seized after passing a checkpoint to the eastern Tripoli suburb of Tajoura while returning from the central coastal city of Misrata on the evening of March 31.
Ghatous, an adviser and head of the premier’s office, had last spoken to his family by mobile phone from his car before he was taken.
“Mohammed Al-Ghatous returned safely to his home and family yesterday evening,” a statement posted on the prime minister’s website said. “We would like to thank everyone who helped in finding him and securing his return.”
It gave no further details about Ghatous’ whereabouts for the last week or how he had been released.
At a midday conference on Monday, Zeidan had told reporters that Ghatous’ whereabouts remained unknown.