Libyan Foreign Ministry responds to what was published by the American news channel (CNN) about the American citizen arrested in Libya.

Tripoli, December 24, 2021 (LANA) - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation expressed its astonishment at what was published by the American news channel (CNN), which it described as fallacies and inaccurate information about the arrest of the American citizen “Fernando Espinosa” and the lack of impartiality and accuracy in publishing.

This came in a press statement, in response to what was reported by the channel yesterday, Thursday, about the American citizen arrested in Libya.

The ministry confirmed in the statement that the aforementioned American citizen entered Libya with a valid visa and worked as a teacher in one of the schools, and the visa which was granted to him had expired, and he was stopped in southern Libya by the security services for violating the procedures, and being in areas of tension without obtaining permission from the competent Libyan authorities despite several warnings.

The Ministry explained that he was detained by the competent Libyan authorities, and “a phone call was secured for him with the consular official of the American embassy accredited to Libya” two weeks ago, and the embassy contacted his family, and on December 21, 2021, he was enabled to contact the American embassy as well as his mother to check on him.

 The statement indicated that due to his failure to obtain a vaccine against the Corona virus, the process of deporting him to his country was delayed, and in this regard, the competent Libyan authorities vaccinated him with the first dose, but the Minister personally intervened to expedite the procedures and deport him as soon as possible, early next week, in order to preserve the strong Libyan-American relations, and out of respect for the privacy of the upcoming holidays in the detainee's homeland. =Lana=