Stockholm, Sweden, October 20, 2005 (VOA News) – A Swedish court has released a former Somali militia ‎commander accused of war crimes for lack of evidence.‎

The court freed Abdi Qeybdiid, 57, Thursday, saying the evidence against him was insufficient.‎ He was detained Sunday night while in Sweden to attend an aid conference. Local Somalis gave Swedish ‎police a videotape allegedly showing him interrogating and executing two Somali men.‎ But a court-appointed lawyer said the videotape was heavily edited and proved nothing. ‎

Abdi Qeybdiid was a former police chief and top aid to Somali warlord Mohammed Farrah Aideed, who ‎fought U.S. troops in Somalia in the early 1990s. ‎His arrest opened old wounds and provoked anger among his supporters. During a hearing before his ‎release, dozens of Somalis gathered outside a police station, demanding his freedom and carrying signs ‎warning Sweden to stay out of Somali clan rivalry.‎ Some information for this report provided by AP and Reuters.‎
 

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