Austrian and Swiss women freed after 18 months in Niger reach Benghazi, sources say
The women thanked Khalifa Haftar and his son after a video showed them weakened following their release from captivity.
- An Austrian and a Swiss woman arrived in Benghazi, Libya, on Thursday after being freed from more than 18 months of detention in Niger, according to official sources.
- Both were kidnapped in Niger in 2025; Eva was abducted in Agadez in January, while Claudia Abbt was taken in April that year.
- In a video from Libyan news channel Masar, Eva, in her 70s, and 69-year-old Abbt appeared physically weakened. Eva said, "I had been held hostage for a year and nine months," while Abbt said she was "happy to be free."
- Khalifa Haftar, Libya's deputy commander-in-chief, reportedly oversaw the rescue operation, and both women thanked Haftar and his son, Saddam, for their release.
- Libya has struggled to recover since the NATO-backed uprising toppled Moammar Gaddafi in 2011, while the group responsible for the 2025 abduction remains unclear.
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139 Articles
Austrian Eva Gretzmacher, 76, and Swiss Claudia Abbt, 69, have arrived in Benghazi following an operation in which Libyan media outlets said Libyan Saddam Haftar
Two European women freed after 18 months in captivity
NIAMEY (AP): Two women from Austria and Switzerland have been freed in Niger after spending more than a year and a half in captivity, officials and local media reported Thursday. The Austrian woman, an aid worker identified as Eva G, was received by the Austrian crisis team on Thursday, Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger said in a statement. She was kidnapped in Niger’s Agadez city in January last year, months before the Swiss citiz…
(Johannesburg=Yonhap News) Correspondent Na Hak-jin = An Austrian woman and a Swiss woman, who were kidnapped in Niger, West Africa and held captive for over a year and a half, have both been released...
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