UN turns up the heat over detained official

The UN has rejected Tunisia's reasons for the arrest of a UN expert on suspicion of espionage and demanded that charges against him be dropped. Tunisia had submitted documents to the UN detailing the case against Moncef Kartas, a member of the UN panel of experts on Libya, who was detained on arrival in Tunis on 26 March. A report on the News24 site notes that UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric confirmed that the organisation formally notified Tunisia's Government that Kartas enjoys diplomatic immunity. Kartas' lawyers have said that the charges were linked to the arms expert's possession of a device allowing him to have access to data on flights of civil and commercial aircraft.