The former undersecretary of the Ministry of Defence, Al-Siddiq Al-Ghaithi, has been released from prison in Benghazi, local sources in Tobruk confirmed on Monday.
Al-Ghaithi was released from the notorious Garnada prison- seven years after he was jailed for openly opposing Khalifa Haftar.
Derna's native was arrested by Khalifa Haftar's forces in the Sousse region, west of his hometown Derna.
He was reportedly accompanying a delegation from Misrata, who was on a mission to the eastern region, in a bid to heal rifts and mend fences with the eastern tribes.
Following the outbreak of the 2014 conflict in Benghazi Al-Gaithi led efforts for reconciliation to address the tension that was expanding in the region.
Al-Ghaithi served as undersecretary at the Defence Ministry for Border Affairs in the government of late Prime Minister Abdul Rahim al-Kib in 2012.
He was also a strong advocate for the federal system and joined the political bureau of "The Cyrenaica Region" in 2014.
Observers say that the release of Al-Ghaithi, a former leader of the Libyan Fighting Group, was related to the recent statements made by Abdel Hakim Belhaj, a senior member of the dissolved group, in which he praised Haftar and confirmed that they had direct contacts with each other.
