Libyans Seize Catholic Bishop, Diplomats Say

The Roman Catholic bishop of Tripoli, Msgr. Giovanni Martinelli, has been taken into custody by Libyan militiamen who seized him at gunpoint late Thursday night at a residence of the Franciscan order in the city of Benghazi, diplomatic sources said Sunday.

Three Franciscan friars and a nun were also detained and are being held incommunicado in Benghazi, the diplomats added.

Martinelli is head of the small Roman Catholic community in Libya, a former Italian colony. He was seized by youthful, machine-gun toting militiamen who burst into the bishop’s residence at about 11:30 p.m. Thursday, the diplomats said.

Reasons Are Unclear

The bishop and the other four were later believed to be undergoing interrogation, they said, adding that the nature of the questioning and the reasons for the detentions are unclear.

“We have no idea why this has happened. It is a very strange affair,” said one diplomat familiar with the episode. He added that the Vatican and the Italian Embassy, which have both sought to gain the bishop’s release, have been denied permission to talk to him.

Some diplomats speculated that Martinelli, an Italian citizen who was born in Libya and became bishop of Tripoli and Benghazi last year, may have been detained because of Pope John Paul II’s historic visit Sunday to a synagogue in Rome. The Pope, in a first visit to a Jewish place of worship by a Roman Catholic pontiff, expressed abhorrence at the persecution suffered by Jews throughout history.

Climate of Fear

Whatever the reason, the bishop’s detention has added to a climate of fear among foreigners living in Libya as the United States appeared poised to retaliate militarily against the regime of Col. Moammar Kadafi for what Washington calls Libya’s involvement in recent terrorist bombings in West Berlin and in an airliner over Greece, in which a total of five Americans were killed.

Two U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups on duty in the Mediterranean were placed on alert last week, and at the week’s end they had taken up position less than two days’ steaming time from the Libyan coast.

As the tension between Libya and the United States increases, Britain and several other Western countries have expressed concern for the safety of foreigners living in Libya and have advised their nationals there to consider leaving.

Foreigners as Hostages

A number of diplomats and other foreign residents in the Libyan capital have expressed fear that in a crisis, foreigners here might be taken hostage as a way of deterring the United States from mounting a military strike.

The foreign community in Libya includes more than 1,000 Americans--mostly oil field workers--who have remained in Libya in violation of orders by President Reagan last January that they leave by Feb. 1. While Libya has not threatened their safety, Kadafi indicated in an interview Saturday that Libya was using their presence as a means of restraining the United States from military action against Libya.

Kadafi said Libya has “closed down all the military camps specified by the United States to be attacked” and has “turned them over to foreign companies to be used as residences for the oil field and petrochemical company workers.”

No Details Provided

He did not indicate which military camps were closed down, nor did he say which foreign workers he intended to move into them. Diplomats here, however, noted that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to move foreign oil workers into military camps, which are believed to be situated some distance away from the oil fields, where the workers are needed every day.

The diplomats said the four Franciscans detained with Bishop Martinelli are Maltese, Polish and Filipino friars and an Italian nun.

The four are being held in Benghazi, the diplomats said, and there was no word on when they might be released. The detentions were particularly puzzling to diplomats because Martinelli, who has spent most of his church career in Libya, is understood to be pro-Libyan and is said to have been privately critical of Washington’s threat to retaliate against Libya for what it calls Kadafi’s support of international terrorism.