Crew members of the Morning Glory are escorted by Libyan naval personnel to a port in Tripoli, March 23, 2014. PHOTO: REUTERS
However, three Libyan rebel fighters who had boarded the tanker will stay in jail, Abdelqadir Rawdan told Reuters. The crew was made up of sailors from Pakistan, India, Syria, Sudan and other countries.
"The crew will be released and expelled," he said.
On Sunday, the Morning Glory arrived in the Libyan capital Tripoli after US special forces stormed the tanker a week ago and handed it over to Libya's nascent navy which had initially failed to stop it.
The ship had docked two weeks ago at the Es Sider port, which is under control of rebels demanding autonomy and a greater share of oil for Libya's east of the country.
Rawdan said the crew was still being investigated but it was clear that its members had acted at gun point.
The return of the tanker was a rare victory for Tripoli, which is struggling to end a port blockade by rebels, one of many challenges facing the central government which has failed to secure the country three years after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi.
Former anti-Gaddafi rebels and militias refuse to surrender their weapons and often use force or control of oil facilities to make demands on a state whose army is still in training with Western governments.
Western governments, which backed NATO's air strikes to help the 2011 anti-Gaddafi revolt, are pressing the factions to reach a political settlement.
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@the Skunk: Dear Skunk, Upon reflection of Americans boldly going where no one one wants to go, perhaps it may have occurred to you that Americans only attack people who are incapable of causing serious retaliatory damage. I am not aware of America attacking anybody in the last 70 years who had first world military capabilities. Even then the US lost out to Korea, Vietnam, and are not going to well against a bunch of hill billies in Afghanistan. I will not go too deeply into the US created debacle of Ukraine
I wonder what would be the behaviour of "brother Muslim country" Libya if the crew consisted of Americans and Europeans??
@the Skunk: Dear Skunk, Your nomenclature such as, "The US has the guts to boldly go" would indicate you are a conditioned Star-trek fan. However, in the real world the US/UK/France bombed the original Libyan Government into oblivion, installed their own government, called the original official Government terrorists, and this gives them the excuse to indulge in piracy, and other questionable activities whenever the previous official Government remnants raise their .head. In the meantime, the current people, who are recognized by the US/EU have not taken control yet and are holed up in a very secure hotel, which they are too scared to leave.
@Sexton Blake: Let's face it. The US, "has the guts to boldly go where no one wants to go." there are other navies with anti-terrorist maritime units but we mostly hear of the Americans. Even Russia has utilized their services to get a one of their tankers released. Salams
It looks as if the US Navy is into piracy now.
Libya was run as separate autonomous entities and their colonial rulers put all of them together under one border (Unnatural straight line borders, that are all over Africa). Now after Qazzafi these regions are asserting their autonomy and want to either separate or have control over their own resources. For west, it is easy to deal with a central government in Tripoli and they discourage any separatist sentiments. Their move of seizing the tanker in international waters was interference. However I am glad that sailors are set free.
That's good news........and one must appreciate the pragmatic ruling of the Lybian authority.
"The crew was made up of sailors from Pakistan, India, Syria, Sudan and other countries."At least in this we are together