Egypt says 6 Christian nationals freed from Libya detention

Egypt’s foreign ministry said Friday that six Christian Egyptians who were kidnapped and then illegally detained earlier this month in western Libya have been released.

The men, all relatives from Egypt’s southern city of Sohag, were abducted after traveling to the lawless North African country in search of work in early February, according to Amir Nassif, a lawyer for the men’s family.

The six men will shortly return to Egypt, the foreign ministry’s spokesman said in a tweet posted Friday evening. No further details about the release were given.

Ravaged by civil war since 2011, Libya is divided between rival governments based in its capital Tripoli and its eastern areas. In western Libya, militia groups have amassed great wealth and power from kidnappings and their involvement in the country’s lucrative human trafficking trade.

Nassif told The Associated Press Thursday that one of the abducted men contacted his family earlier this week saying that they needed 15,000 Libyan dinars, around $3,100, as a ransom for each of them to be released. The lawyer could not be immediately reached for details regarding Friday’s release.

The men, who are all Coptic Christians, are being held in a migrant detention facility near the western city of Zawiya under the guard of a militia prominent in Libya’s west, Nassif said. The group had threatened to kill the men if the ransom is not paid, he said.