A South African court postponed for three weeks Monday the case of 95 Libyans arrested at a military-style camp 10 days ago, as the circumstances of their presence remained unclear.
The men were detained on July 26 at the remote training camp in Mpumalanga province, which borders Mozambique and Eswatini.
Police said they entered South Africa on visas issued for security guard training but that the camp where they were discovered seemed more adapted to military training.
Their visas were cancelled after they had been found to have been "irregularly acquired" in the Tunisian capital based on "misrepresentation", the government said.
Further investigation
A court in the town of White River postponed the case until August 26 for further investigation.
The men have been charged with violating immigration rules but police said they could face other charges.
Television footage from local broadcaster ENCA showed the men locked in police vans shouting in Arabic. Dressed in civilian clothing, some were shown posing and making peace signs.
Some refused to get back into the trucks meant to return them to their holding cells, saying they wanted to go home, Sowetan LIVE reported.
Libya denies affiliation with arrested people
It was still unclear what the men were doing in South Africa. The owner of the training camp has reportedly not been arrested.
Some reports have said the group may have been sent to South Africa to train for the Libyan faction of Khalifa Haftar, who controls the oil-rich east of the unstable country.
The UN-recognised Libyan government said in a statement it "formally and clearly denies" any affiliation with the men in South Africa.
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