Libya invites UN experts amid 'kidnap' dispute
ADVERTISEMENTS
Swiss protestors calling for the release of their two countrymen
UN spokesman says working group has suggested to Libya visit take place in February 2010.
GENEVA - Libya has invited UN experts on arbitrary detention to visit the country amid a dispute with Switzerland over the "kidnapping" of two businessmen, a UN official said Wednesday.
"Libya has invited the working group on arbitrary detention," Xabier Celaya, spokesman for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said.
"The working group has suggested to the government that the visit take place in February 2010, but no specific date has been fixed."
The invitation came after Switzerland accused Tripoli of having "kidnapped" two Swiss businessmen at the end of September.
The two Swiss businessmen have been prevented from leaving Tripoli for a year in a diplomatic row between the two countries.
In September, they went missing after they left the Swiss embassy to undergo a medical check-up at the request of Libyan authorities.
Switzerland "has not received any proof of life after the two Swiss (citizens) were kidnapped by Libyan authorities and hidden in an unknown location, in flagrant violation" of consular conventions, Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey had said on October 22.
The Swiss-Libyan spat erupted in July 2008 after police in Geneva arrested one of the sons of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, Hannibal, and his wife in a luxury hotel over allegations that the couple had mistreated two servants.
