TRIPOLI: Libya will free 131 political prisoners, including members of the Muslim Brotherhood, said Saif al-Islam, son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, who heads a foundation dedicated to improving the country’s image. Saif also told Reuters late on Saturday that many Libyans who lost businesses and other privately-owned assets such as luxury homes during the revolutionary days of the early 1970s would recover their properties or get compensation.

Saif said the prisoners would be freed in the next few days but gave no further details. Membership of a political party constitutes treason in the north African country. The Muslim Brotherhood advocates a Muslim state through peaceful political activity. It is banned in Libya and most other Arab countries. Small batches of political detainees have been released in recent years on behalf of the Gaddafi Charity Foundation, which aims to improve Libya’s human rights record and image abroad.

"Many Libyans who had their assets, properties or homes confiscated in the 1970s will get back their properties or be compensated," Saif said. "The decisions have been taken and the implementation of such decisions will take place in the next few days." He gave no further details on the number of Libyans to benefit from such a scheme or the cost of any compensation. London-based rights group Amnesty International in April published a catalogue of what it called Libya’s human rights abuses and urged Gaddafi to follow through on promises to establish a "normal criminal law procedure".

Amnesty became the first international human rights group to visit Libya in 15 years when its research team met Gaddafi and other officials in March amid Tripoli’s efforts to rejoin the international community after three decades of isolation.

Gaddafi, keen to improve ties with the West following Libya’s decision to abandon weapons of mass destruction, has invited US President George W. Bush to visit his country, a visiting US senator said on Saturday. The trip by US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar was the highest profile US visit to Libya since relations began to thaw.