Libya PM ‘freed’ after several hours of capture

Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan was released on Thursday several
hours after being seized from a Tripoli hotel by former rebel
militiamen, the foreign minister said.
"He has been freed but we have no details so far on the circumstances
of his release," Mohammed Abdelaziz told AFP.
Government spokesman Mohamed Kaabar told the state LANA news agency
that the premier had been "freed, not released", without saying how.
He said Zeidan was "in good health" but did not elaborate on what he
meant by his not being released.
Moments before news broke of Zeidan's release, Deputy Prime Minister
Al-Seddik Abdelkarim had vowed that the government would not give into
the demands of the perpetrators of a "criminal act".
"The government will not give in to blackmail by anyone," he said.
The pre-dawn seizure of Zeidan came five days after US commandos
embarrassed and angered Libya's government by capturing senior
Al-Qaeda suspect Abu Anas al-Libi off the streets of Tripoli and
whisking him away to a warship.
A source in the premier's office said Zeidan had been taken by gunmen
from Tripoli's Corinthia Hotel, where he resides. A hotel employee
confirmed a pre-dawn raid by "a large number of armed men".
The cabinet met in emergency session earlier in the morning.
A government statement said Zeidan had been taken "to an unknown
destination for unknown reasons by a group" of men believed to be
former rebels.
The Operations Cell of Libyan Revolutionaries, comprising former
rebels and which had roundly denounced Libi's abduction and blamed
Zeidan's government for it, said it had "arrested" Zeidan under orders
from the public prosecutor.
But the cabinet said on its Facebook page that ministers were "unaware
of immunity being lifted or of any arrest warrant" for the premier.
Thursday's government statement said it suspected both the Operations
Cell of Libyan Revolutionaries and the Brigade for the Fight against
Crime of being behind the raid that netted Zeidan.
Both groups loosely fall under the control of the defence and interior
ministries but largely operate autonomously.
Two years after the revolution that toppled Kadhafi, Libya's new
authorities are struggling to rein in tribal militias and groups of
former rebels.