DFAT helps Australian aid worker in Libya

29 Sep 2012, 2:46 pm   -   Source: AAP
A DFAT official is assisting aid worker Alexandra Bean who has been prevented from leaving Libya. (AAP)

A DFAT official is assisting aid worker Alexandra Bean who has been prevented from leaving Libya. (AAP)

A DFAT official is assisting Australian aid worker Alexandra "Pippi" Bean who has been prevented from leaving Libya.

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Senior Australian diplomat Simon Harrison has touched down in Libya and is providing consular assistance to an Australian aid worker detained in the country.

Alexandra "Pippi" Bean, 30, who has been working in Libya for the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), was stopped for questioning on Tuesday at Tripoli airport by Libyan authorities and has since been prevented from leaving the recently-liberated country.

Her family in Australia had demanded that Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) do more to assist Ms Bean, including a personal visit by the minister to Tripoli.

Mr Harrison, who is a senior Cairo-based Australian consular official, has been on the ground in Tripoli for several hours on Saturday (AEST) and has already met once with Ms Bean, a DFAT spokesperson says.

"We will continue to provide Ms Bean full consular assistance and support," the spokesperson said in a statement.

"The official has also met with UK embassy counterparts who have been extending support to Ms Bean, which we appreciate."

Consular staff in Canberra are also in regular touch with Ms Bean's family.

In June, Senator Carr travelled to Libya to offer personal support to Australian lawyer Melinda Taylor, who was arrested for allegedly carrying documents for the imprisoned son of Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam, that were considered a threat to national security.

"As in the Melinda Taylor case, it is standard practice for us to cooperate with the UK on consular cases in regions where Australia has no diplomatic representation," the DFAT spokesperson said on Saturday.

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