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Africa North
Jailed Swiss businessman returns from Libya
2010-06-14
A Swiss businessman, held in a Libyan jail for four months, has arrived back in Zurich.

Max Goeldi was at the centre of a long-running diplomatic row between the two countries. He and another Swiss businessman were held after the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was arrested in Switzerland in 2008.

Correspondents say Mr Goeldi's release may allow a line to be drawn under the two-year-long row.

He boarded a plane back to Switzerland on Sunday following his release from jail on 10 June. Travelling with Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey, he landed at Zurich in the early hours of Monday morning.

Max Goeldi was sentenced in February to four months in prison for violating Libyan immigration rules. Libya also took other measures, widely regarded as retaliation for the arrest.

The row began when Hannibal Gaddafi and his wife were arrested in Geneva in July 2008 accused of assaulting two servants while staying at a luxury hotel. Although the charges were later dropped, Libya cancelled oil supplies, withdrew billions of dollars from Swiss banks, refused visas to Swiss citizens and recalled some of its diplomats.

The dispute worsened when a Swiss newspaper published leaked police photos of Mr Gaddafi. Under an "action plan" mediated by Germany and Spain, Switzerland apologised for the "unlawful publication" of the photos, which constituted a "breach of confidentiality under Swiss law".

Mr Goeldi, the manager of an engineering firm, was held along with Rachid Hamdani, who works for a construction company. They were later released on bail and then convicted in absentia while sheltering in the Swiss embassy in Tripoli.

Mr Hamdani was later cleared but Mr Goeldi was taken to prison in February after a tense stand-off outside the Swiss embassy.
Posted by:Steve White

#2  what would have happened had the Libyans held Chinese diplomats and engineers?
Posted by: 746   2010-06-14 09:49  

#1  Libya and Libyans in general and the Gaddafi clan in particular now enjoy de facto blanket immunity.

Whatever they do to citizens of western nations, whatever crime they commit on western territory, whatever diplomatic convention they violate, there won't be any negative consequences.

It is true European "conservative and hawkish" leaders like Berlusconi and Sarkozy have been exposed as spineless appeasers. However the same is true for the Obama administration.

A state department official mocked Gaddafi's announcement of jihad against Switzerland. The Libyans demanded an apology for that insult and days later the state department did apologize profusely.

Was that euro style appeasement? Or was this an implicit endorsement of terrorist attacks on Europe?

Looking at this episode, why should any potential adversary fear the consequences of an attack against western nations?
Posted by: Sheba Angomoting3218   2010-06-14 01:34  

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