Libyan ex-minister found dead ‘drowned’

Austrian police said a post mortem examination of Shukri Ghanem’s body showed no signs of violence.

Authorities believe the death may have been an accident. Mr Ghanem had complained to his daughter late on Saturday that he was not feeling well.

No suicide note was found and there was no evidence Mr Ghanem was under threat.

A police spokesman said the results of toxicological tests were expected later this week as part of the investigation into the drowning.

Mr Ghanem abandoned Muammar Gaddafi’s regime to support the rebels.

He last served as his country’s oil minister until last year. He left Libya for Tunisia and then Europe in June as insurgents were pushing to topple Gaddafi. He subsequently announced he would support the rebels.

Considered a member of Gaddafi’s inner circle until his defection, he insisted that Libya bore no responsibility for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people.

He also repudiated Libyan responsibility in the 1984 shooting death of WPC Yvonne Fletcher during a protest in front of his country’s embassy in London – an incident that led to the severing of British-Libyan relations.

He became premier as the country began to transform itself from an international pariah accused of fomenting terrorism and crippled by sanctions to one seen as instituting reforms that led to growing economic and political ties with the United States and Europe.

Mr Ghanem lived in Vienna after Gaddafi was deposed.