Australian lawyer held in Libya on spying charge

An Australian lawyer being held in Libya over allegations of spying following a visit to Colonel Gaddafi's son will be released if she provides details of where the country's most wanted man is, authorities have said.
Melinda Taylor and her Lebanese-born interpreter Helene Assaf were detained last week while visiting Saif al-Islam Gaddafi in Zintan as part of an International Criminal Court (ICC) team.
Officials in the town alleged that during the meeting the pair were caught passing documents to Saif al-Islam from his fugitive right-hand man Mohammed Ismail.
Authorities say 36-year-old Ms Taylor had a suspicious pen camera on her and attempted to pass Saif al-Islam - the son of former Libyan leader Colonel Gaddafi - a coded letter from the fugitive.
The authorities say if Ms Taylor - who has a two-year-old daughter - was carrying a letter from Ismail, that means she had met the wanted man.
The deal was proposed yesterday by a government official as a second delegation from the ICC visited their colleagues.
Speaking to The Times, Mohammed al-Harizi, a government spokesman, said it was very important for the country's new rulers to catch Ismail.

He said: 'We do not have anything against this woman. Just we need some information from her. After that she will be free.'
Human rights groups, the court in The Hague, and the Australian government have all demanded that they be released immediately, but Libyan prosecutors say Taylor and Assaf will be held for at least 45 days while they are investigated.

Allegations: Ms Taylor has been accused of passing documents to Saif al-Islam, left, from his fugitive right-hand man Mohammed Ismail, right

'The delegation as well as ambassadors for their (the detained ICC staff) countries visited them,' said Ahmed al-Gehani, a Libyan lawyer who is in charge of the Saif al-Islam case and liaises between the government and the ICC.
'They are well, they are in a guesthouse, not in a prison. They have food, water, and are being treated well.'
The ICC delegation had earlier yesterday been prevented from entering Zintan by a local militia which closed roads into the town because of tribal clashes in the area.
In scenes that summed up the chaos and instability in Libya since a revolt last year ousted and killed Gaddafi, when the delegation arrived at a checkpoint outside Zintan, militiamen told them no one was being allowed in because of clashes with a rival tribe nearby.

Captured: Ms Taylor is being held in the town of Zintan, pictured, which was yesterday affected by tribal clashes

The 7-vehicle convoy parked near the checkpoint but waited to get into Zintan, even though the visit had been approved by authorities in the capital, Tripoli.
The incident underscored the problem complicating negotiations over the ICC staff: Zintan is effectively outside the control of the central government.
Instead, it is the brigade in Zintan, which captured Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam in November and has since refused to transfer him to the capital, which is, de facto, in charge.
Saif al-Islam is wanted by the ICC for crimes during the uprising that ended his father's 42-year rule last year. Libya's new rulers insist he should be tried in his home country.
Saif al-Islam is being held in Zintan by a local militia that captured him in November. An ICC team, including Taylor and Assaf, was meeting him under an arrangement with the Libyan authorities for him to have access to ICC-appointed defence lawyers


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