Libya should release two Swiss businessmen it has sentenced to 16 months in jail for visa infractions in a spat with Switzerland involving leader Moammar Gadhafi's son, the U.N. human rights chief said Tuesday.
Libya has violated the basic rights of the businessmen by preventing them from leaving the country for over a year without explanation, said Navi Pillay, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights.
She called their detention "unfair."
The businessmen Max Goeldi and Rachid Hamdani were detained in July 2008 on alleged visa violations, days after Swiss police arrested Gadhafi's son Hannibal and his wife for allegedly eating up their servants in a Geneva hotel.
Libyan authorities last week sentenced them to 16 months' jail and a $1,500 fine. They are currently being protected in the Swiss embassy in Tripoli, but will soon face another Libyan trial for illegal commercial activity.
Goeldi and Hamdani are the unfair vctims of a political dispute, Pillay said.
"Individuals should not be made to suffer because of bad relations between states," she added.
Hannibal Gadhafi was held for two days in Geneva in July 2008 before being allowed to return home. The complaint was eventually droppedafter the two servants received compensation from an undisclosed source.
Switzerland apologized for the manner of the arrest and opened itself to possible compensation claims as part of an August agreement reached in Tripoli to repair bilateral relations.
The Alpine republic later suspended the deal afer repeated attempts to secure the release of Goeldi and Hamdani failed.
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