File photo shows the seven Iranian relief workers (on the right) in Libya before their abduction in the northeastern city of Benghazi.
A Libyan Red Crescent Association official says the seven Iranian relief workers abducted in the northeastern city of Benghazi are set to be released.
“We are waiting for their release which can happen any moment now,” Abdelhamid el-Madani, who heads the Libyan relief organization's local branch in Benghazi, told Reuters by telephone on Friday.
On August 1, Head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Iran Peter Ritter stressed ICRC’s continued efforts to pursue the fate of the abducted Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) members in Libya, adding, “We will do our best to clarify the fate of the aid workers.”
Ritter said the ICRC office in Libya is in collaboration with the Libyan Red Crescent (LRC) to communicate with the Libyan militias to discuss ways for the release of the Iranian abductees.
In a statement on July 31, the LRC said unidentified gunmen had kidnapped a seven-member IRCS delegation after they left the headquarters of the LRC in Benghazi.
The Iranian delegation had gone to Libya at the invitation of the LRC to discuss various prospects for cooperation in the field of humanitarian assistance.
MP/HMV/SS
