TRIPOLI - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son Hannibal paid a visit on Monday to a Swiss businessman detained in Tripoli since 2008 when a diplomatic row broke out between the two countries.
Libya withdrew over $5 billion from Swiss bank accounts, cut oil supplies to Switzerland and detained two Swiss businessmen working in Libya after Hannibal Gaddafi was arrested briefly in Geneva on charges of mistreating two domestic servants.
Those charges were soon dropped in an out-of-court settlement but Switzerland's ties with the north African country have failed to recover.
One of the Swiss businessmen was allowed to leave Libya last week but the other, Max Goeldi, left the shelter of the Swiss embassy in Tripoli after a diplomatic stand-off and began serving a four-month prison sentence for immigration violations.
"Goeldi said it was an honour to be visited by Hannibal Gaddafi as a humanitarian gesture on the occasion of his mother's birthday and allowed to call to congratulate her," Goeldi's lawyer Salah Zahaf told reporters in Tripoli.
A Reuters reporter who was present at Hannibal's meeting with Goeldi in an office at the Tripoli prison said Goeldi seemed relaxed and was smiling.
"I am honoured that Captain Hannibal came to see me and I hope he can use his influence to help me in my situation," Goeldi said. "I have been away from my family for 19 months and would like to go back as soon as possible."
Asked if he wanted anything from the Swiss government, Goeldi replied: "Switzerland must give Captain Hannibal the right to exercise his right ... The leak of pictures was unacceptable and against the law".
Hannibal Gaddafi sued the Geneva authorities in December over a police photograph following his arrest that was published on the front page of a Swiss newspaper
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