Libyan rebels detain over 150 Tunisians

The Tunisian League for the Defence of Human Rights has said that a battalion of Libyan rebels arrested over 150 Tunisians in the Libyan city of Zawiya on Monday. The arrest were allegedly made in protest against the detention of four Libyans by Tunisian forces in the border city of Ben Guerdane on charges of drug possession. Al-Assaad al-Jmousy, the head of the League in Sfax South (240 kilometre south-east of Tunis) said that “an armed battalion of Libyan rebels arrested between 150 to 164 Tunisians who were working in a petrol institution in Zawya since Monday, 4pm.” He added in a statement to the Tunisian News Agency TAP that the operation was “a reaction to the arrest of four Libyans in Ben Guerdane". He explained: “The League received phone calls from the detainees and their relatives who asked for a solution to the problem. The League then contacted the Tunisian consulate in Libya, who responded that they would try their best to resolve the issue."