The World : Libya Frees Jailed Briton

A British engineer who was serving a life sentence in Libya on espionage charges was released after two years in prison, the British Foreign Office said. James Abra, 59, who worked for the British electronics firm Plessey, was arrested in 1985 at the Tripoli airport and accused of passing classified information to Plessey and an unidentified foreign government. He pleaded not guilty but was convicted in April, 1986. The only British prisoner in Libya, Abra was freed under an amnesty granted by Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi to all foreign prisoners. Ron Brown, a Labor Party lawmaker who has helped gain the freedom of other Britons imprisoned in Libya, flew to Tripoli for the release. “It would be an understatement to stay that Mr. Abra was overjoyed,” he said.