Gaddafi's son meets jailed Swiss businessman

Hannibal Gaddafi met in jail yesterday with a Swiss businessman detained in Tripoli since the Libyan leader's son was briefly arrested in Geneva, sparking a diplomatic row.

"I am happy for this occasion which enabled me to meet you, and I hope that justice takes its course and things are remedied," Max Goeldi told Hannibal, the third son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The Swiss national met with Hannibal at Al-Jadaida prison in the presence of his lawyer and several journalists, before retiring to another room to speak in private.

In a brief comment to journalists, Mr Goeldi said he hoped Hannibal would "use his influence" to help him leave Libya. His lawyer, Salah Zahaf, told reporters he had filed for a pardon on Sunday at Libya's high court.

He also criticised Switzerland, saying it was dragging its feet over a lawsuit by Hannibal against a Geneva newspaper that published photographs of his arrest in September last year.

"I wish to enquire myself of the Swiss government the reasons for this delay," Mr Zahaf said, noting the complaint was lodged in December.

Some 300 secondary school pupils demonstrated outside the Swiss embassy, chanting: "We shall not stay silent as atheist Switzerland destroys minarets."