The Court of Misurata Libya acquitted 17 Egyptian fishermen from the charge of breach Libyan territorial waters on Monday December 12 according to the President of the Association for the Welfare of Fishermen in Burg Moghaizel in Kafr El-Sheikh, Ahmed Nassar. The Court also decided to hand them over to the Egyptian Embassy in Tripoli for deportation. Given the absence of a representative of State in Court, all 17 fishermen were detained until an embassy representative arrived to receive them. The fishermen were arrested four days ago when the Libyan coast guard forced their boat ‘Hajj Hussein' to enter Libyan territorial waters while the fishermen were on their way to Malta for a fishing trip. Another 63 fishermen are due to be put on trial in Tripoli after three additional boats were caught entering territorial waters 3 days ago.
