Australia calls for release of lawyer in Libya
AUSTRALIA: Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Monday urged Libyan
authorities to release an Australian lawyer accused of spying, as
Canberra ramped up diplomatic efforts to secure the woman's freedom.
Melinda Taylor was detained on Thursday after meeting Seif al-Islam,
the detained son of slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi, as part of a
four-person team from the International Criminal Court (ICC).
"I am very concerned about the detention of Ms Taylor," Gillard told
reporters.
"We are calling on the Libyan government to expedite the end of Ms
Taylor's detention." Gillard said while she had been assured that Taylor
was safe and well, Canberra wanted to see her detention "come to an end
as quickly as possible" and had dispatched to the country its
ambassador-designate to Libya.
Australia would also work with Spain, Russia and Lebanon -- whose
nationals comprise the other members of the ICC team -- to raise its
concerns, she added.
Earlier Foreign Minister Bob Carr said he had spoken to Libya's
Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammed Abdel Aziz to raise his concerns about
Taylor, who has so far been unable to speak to consular officials or her
husband.
"I said that her welfare is very, very important to us," Carr told
the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
"We want consular access and we hope we can have it soon. We hope we
can have it today. We would like this resolved quickly so that she can
rejoin her husband in The Hague and their two-year-old child."
Australian officials would not comment on the allegations against
Taylor, reported to be 36, who was detained after a meeting with Seif in
the town of Zintan, some 180 kilometres (110 miles) from Tripoli.
Ahmed Jehani, Libya's envoy to the ICC, has said that Taylor is in
detention because she was found "exchanging papers with the accused Seif
al-Islam".
Jehani alleged that Taylor was carrying a pen camera and a letter
from Mohammed Ismail, Seif's former right-hand man who is now on the
run.
Jehani said the letter contained drawings and symbols, a "code" that
would only be understood by the sender and the intended recipient, Seif.
"According to Libyan law, it would be spying, communication with the
enemy," the envoy said.
Carr said he had been told that Taylor was not being held in jail or
under arrest and that she was in good health.
She was "being detained not by the militia, not by the freedom
fighters but by the judicial police as they are called and she is
therefore the responsibility of the attorney-general of Libya", he said.
AFP |