Official Spokesperson of the Libyan Interior Ministry Ramy Kahal said on Saturday that preliminary findings from the Egyptian workers being held in Tripoli indicated that 15 of them have legal status while the others are still being investigated.
If papers of the workers are proven legal, they will be released immediately, says Kahal. If not, they will be deported to Cairo.
“A committee formed of Libyan deputy foreign ministry and representative of the interior ministry as well as representative from the Egyptian embassy in Tripoli are following on the investigations in the Libyan capital,” he added.
Meanwhile, Egyptian Foreign Ministry stressed that intensified communications with Libyan authorities are made to secure the release of the Egyptians held in Tripoli.
Badr Abdel Aaty, the ministry spokesperson, told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the Libyan authorities are checking papers of the 46 remaining Egyptians.
“In any case, when a person is detained and found to be an illegal immigrant in Libya, he will be deported back to Egypt. The Libyan side assured to the ministry that the campaign by Libyan authorities to inspect the illegal immigrants in Libya does not target specific nationality and that the detainees have different nationalities,” he said.
Edited translation from MENA and Al-Masry Al-Youm
