Court drops case against Swiss businessman

AFP - A Libyan court has dropped a case against Swiss businessman Rashid Hamdani for alleged illegal business activities, his lawyer said on Sunday, a day after a colleague was fined over similar charges.

"The case against Rashid has been dismissed," Salah Zahaf said, adding that Hamdani, who was also cleared last month of charges of overstaying his visa, was free to leave Libya where he has been stranded for one and a half years.

"According to the law, yes, he can" leave, Zahaf said in answer to a question by AFP.

Hamdani and fellow countryman and businessman Max Goeldi have been entangled in a diplomatic row between Switzerland and Libya, which barred them from leaving the country since July 2008.

Goeldi was ordered on Saturday to pay an 800-dollar fine for illegal business activities, Zahaf said.

Last week a Libyan appeal court overturned a 16-month jail term slapped on Hamdani on a charge of overstaying his visa. The verdict in Goeldi's trial about his visa is set to be handed down on Thursday.

The pair were caught up in a row over the treatment in Switzerland of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's son Hannibal, who was detained briefly in Geneva with his wife when two hotel servants complained he had mistreated them.