Libya Olympics official abducted by gunmen in Tripoli

Published on 16/07/2012 14:36

GUNMEN have abducted the President of Libya’s Olympic Committee in Tripoli.

Ahmed Nabil al-Taher al-Alam was taken from his car and bundled into a waiting vehcile, according to his brother.

He was kidnapped on Sunday near the committee’s offices in central Tripoli. He said there has been no contact with him or the captors since.

Security officials said they are investigating al-Alam’s disappearance.

The abduction comes amid a wave of score settling between rivals of Libya’s eight-month civil war that ended with the capture and killing of longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi in October. Dozens of former rebel groups now operate independently, often ignoring the nation’s weak central authorities.

Militias frequently take matters into their own hands and rounded up officials with ties to the ousted regime.

Al-Alam, who served as the head of the Libyan Football Association under Gaddafi, is known to have been friends with the dicitator;s son, Mohammed, who was al-Alam’s predecessor as the Libyan Olympic Committee president.

International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge expressed “grave” concern about the kidnapping, and said his office have “offered any possible help if we can do something.”

“Hopefully this will evolve in a good way,” he told reporters in a conference call from Lausanne, Switzerland.