Tehran Urges Libya’s Swift Action to Release Abducted Iranian Aid Workers

(FNA)- Iran on Thursday called on the Libyan officials to take swift and serious actions to free the 7 Iranian Red Crescent workers who were abducted in the Eastern city of Benghazi earlier this week.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for African and Arab Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian called on Libya to take urgent measures to release the kidnapped Iranian Red Crescent workers in that country.

Criticizing the Libyan officials for not providing security measures for the Iranian relief team, he expressed hope they would be released soon through serious efforts of the Libyan officials.

Libya announced on Wednesday that the 7 Iranian Red Crescent workers are healthy.

"The Iranian Red Crescent team abducted in the Libyan city of Benghazi are safe and healthy," Libya's Deputy Interior Minister Wanis al-Sharef was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying.

Sharef said that kidnappers have asked the Iranian officials to mediate the freedom of tens of Libyan prisoners who are in Iraqi jails.

The Libyan Red Crescent said in a statement on Tuesday that armed men have kidnapped a seven-member delegation from the Iranian Red Crescent visiting Benghazi.

The Iranians were heading to the Tibesti hotel when an armed group intercepted them. They were loaded into a different car and whisked away to an unknown location, the statement added.

The driver of the vehicle, a local volunteer, was not taken. The delegation arrived in Libya on Monday at the invitation of the Libyan Red Crescent.