Two European women kidnapped in Niger in 2025 have been freed and brought to Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi, according to Libyan media reports on Thursday.
The women are 76-year-old Swiss national Eva Gretzmacher and 69-year-old Austrian Claudia Abbt.
In a video aired by the eastern-based al-Masar TV, both women appeared visibly frail as they thanked Libyan military commander Khalifa Haftar and his son, Saddam, for securing their release.
Al-Masar said the two hostages had been held in Niger for about a year and a half.
“My name is Eva Gretzmacher, I am 76, and I thank from the bottom of my heart Marshal Haftar and his son, Saddam, who released us,” one of the women said in French. She added that she had spent a year and nine months in captivity.
Abbt said she was happy to be free and also thanked Haftar.
The Libyan News Observatory website also reported their release.
Libya has remained unstable since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi. The country is currently split between two rival governments: the UN-recognised administration in Tripoli, led by Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, and a rival authority in the east backed by Haftar.
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