Libya frees 3 Italian activists from Gaza aid flotilla

ROME: Three Italian activists from a Gaza-bound aid flotilla have been released after a month in prison by authorities controlling eastern Libya, the Italian government said.
Since the fall of Muammar Qaddafi in 2011, Libya has been governed by a UN-recognized government in Tripoli, while a parallel administration based in Benghazi in the east is under the sway of powerful military chief Khalifa Haftar and his sons.
“I am pleased to be able to announce the release of Domenico Centrone and Leonarda Alberizia, the two Italian activists from the Flotilla, who had been held for a month in Libya,” Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani wrote on X on Tuesday evening.
Questioned by AFP on Wednesday in Tunis, Tajani denied any deal with the authorities in eastern Libya for their release, saying “not at all” twice.
“We had to talk to them,” he said, without elaborating.
In addition to the two Italians, “our consul in Benghazi was entrusted with Matias Alvarez Rodriguez, a Uruguayan with Italian nationality, whom we had been monitoring and assisting in recent days,” Tajani added.
All were part of the “Flotilla for Gaza,” a humanitarian convoy seeking to break the blockade of the Palestinian territory.
But the three were traveling overland, like 230 other activists of various nationalities, according to the Global Sumud Flotilla.
They were carrying humanitarian aid, including medicines.
Israel intercepted nearly 430 activists from the flotilla in international waters last month.
The way they were treated by the Israeli authorities has drawn condemnation from several countries, some of which, including France, Italy and Australia, have opened judicial investigations.
According to the Global Sumud Flotilla, the three Italians have arrived in Tunisia, alongside a Tunisian man who had also been detained.
Six other activists are to be released within the next 24 hours, the organization said on X, “after 30 days of illegal detention in Libya.”