An Australian aid worker has been prevented from leaving Libya after being caught up in a police investigation into a senior official.
Foreign Minister Bob Carr says aid worker Alexandra Bean had been stopped from leaving the country at Tripoli Airport by Libyan authorities wanting to question her over matters unrelated to her.
Senator Carr said Ms Bean had not been arrested and had since been released, but could not leave the country while police conduct their inquiry.
Ms Bean has spoken to consular officials in Cairo, who will continue to assist her as much as is required.
Senator Carr said Ms Bean should have the right to leave the country but Libyan authorities were concerned that if she left the country she may not return.
"We will protect her, in these circumstances, as we protect any Australian in this sort of position," Mr Carr told reporters in New York.
Fairfax Media in Australia reported that Ms Bean, 30, may have been embroiled in rumours she had been sexually assaulted by a senior Libyan health official.
In June, Australian lawyer Melinda Taylor and her three International Criminal Court (ICC) colleagues were detained by Libyan officials for allegedly carrying documents for the imprisoned son of Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam, that were considered a threat to national security.
She was freed after a personal intervention by Senator Carr.
Ms Bean was working in Libya for the International Organisation for Migration, an intergovernmental organisation established in 1951 to facilitate humane and orderly migration.
It provides services and advice to governments and migrants in more than 100 countries.
