Two women — one Swiss and the other Austrian — were released from more than a year of captivity in Niger and arrived in Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi, Libyan media outlets reported on Thursday.
The two women — Swiss national Eva Gretzmacher, 76, and Austrian Claudia Abbt, 69 — were abducted in Niger in 2025.
In a video released by Libya’s eastern-based al-Masar TV, the women appeared emaciated and thanked the country’s eastern-based military commander Khalifa Haftar and his son, Saddam, for their release.
Al-Masar said “two hostages, an Austrian and a Swiss national, have been freed after being held captive in Niger for a year and a half”.
“My name is Eva Gretzmacher, I am 76, and I thank from the bottom of my heart Marshal Haftar and his son, Saddam, who released us,” one of the woman said in French.
“I had been held hostage for a year and nine months,” she said.
Abbt said she was “happy to be free”, also thanking Haftar.
Online website Libyan News Observatory also reported their release.
Libya has struggled to recover from the chaos that followed the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi.
Two governments are currently vying for power: a UN-recognised administration in Tripoli led by Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah and its rival in the east backed by Haftar.
AFP
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