Maltese oil worker Martin Galea has said that two of the people who kept him in captivity in Libya for 11 days had lived in Malta in 2001.

He even identified one of them as being called Fahmi and said, angrily, that this man had wanted him dead as soon as he was seized. He did not say why.

Another of his captors, called Ashur, was a former captain in Gaddafi's army.

Mr Galea said in comments to a section of the media today.

He said he had heard his captors plot his execution. At one point shots were fired close to his head as ‘a joke’ and he was forced to use a nail-studded truncheon on himself.

He said he was also accused of having killed Libyan people when he was an AFM captain.

Mr Galea rejected claims that he was not ‘abducted’ and that he was held by a ‘friendly’ militia, adding that he was blindfolded for the 10-minute car trip after he was seized at a roadblock and then held in a cell. He said his captors spoke English and Arabic and he had told them he was a former soldier when they noticed his interest in their weapons.

Mr Galea said he was hit on the head and even threatened with sexual abuse ‘for his birthday’. Then the guards fired shots which missed him by inches.

He said his guards were suspicious of the fact that he had two passports. They feared he might be a spy and plotted to kill him. He thought he was about to be shot and prayed for a quick death, but he was released.

A government spokesman yesterday said Mr Galea had no signs of physical violence and the Security Service was still piecing together the events he went through, adding that the government never used the word 'abduction'.

However in a briefing today, Mr Cutajar said that while the Security Service was still conducting interviews  it had been concluded that Mr Galea was in fact abducted.

Government spokesman Kurt Farrugia said the government  was never trying to minimise the case but it could only speak on the facts when it had them.

In this context, he said that yesterday's government statement that Mr Galea had no external signs of violence did not mean that no violence had been made, but no signs of violence resulted when Mr Galea called at Mater Dei Hospital.

Among the persons being interviewed by the Security Service are Mr Galea himself, and all Maltese and Libyan people known to have been involved in the case and in attempts to bring about the release.

Asked about the roles of Malta's ambassador to Tripoli and the consul based there, Mr Farrugia said tribute was due to all those involved in the release of Mr Galea, without distinction.

Replying to further questions, Mr Cutajar said it was still not clear which militia had abducted Mr Galea as the government had been given different versions. 

SITUATION IN LIBYA

Replying to questions on the situation in Libya, Mr Cutajar said another two persons had been brought for treatment from Libya.  Some of the others brought in the past days have been released from ITU and intensive treatment there was currently being given to four persons.

On the worsening situation in Benghazi, where an intense battle is being waged between government forces and Islamists, Mr Cutajar said a number of Maltese were in the area and the government was keeping in contact with them.

He said that in the past hours a flight from Libya had brought five Maltese, 27 EU nationals and 32 other people. A further two flights were expected. 

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