The Libyan authorities announced the arrest of an American on charges of "Christian proselytizing" activities, according to a press release issued by the Internal Security Agency.

"We were able to arrest one of the foreigners (American nationals) who were the reason for seducing our children to leave Islam and convert to Christianity," the agency said in a statement issued on Tuesday night.

He added, "The foreigner took advantage of his presence in a foreign school teaching the English language, to carry out the call and preach Christianity."

The agency published the confessions of a Libyan explaining how a foreigner residing in Libya incited him to convert to Christianity.

At the same time, the Libyan Ministry of Interior announced the arrest of another Libyan on charges of "apostasy and promoting atheism."

The ministry said on Facebook that he was "referred to the prosecution after confessing the facts attributed to him."

On Friday, Salem Musa, a member of the High Council of State and the Political Dialogue Committee, revealed the "kidnapping" of his son Sifaw on March 26, accusing the Inspector General's office of being responsible for that.

For its part, the Internal Security Agency justified the arrest of Sifaw and others on charges of "apostasy and promoting actions against state systems," stressing its intention to prosecute all "apostates from the true religion."

He said that the arrests against them came "according to the law."

Since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011, Libya has plunged into chaos and divisions, with two governments competing for power, one based in Tripoli (west) and recognized by the United Nations, and the other based in the east and supported by Field Marshal Haftar's camp and the House of Representatives.

Libya has been a fully Islamic country for several decades, and its official religion is Islam.

As for non-Muslims, most of whom are foreigners, most of them are Christians who enjoy the freedom to practice their religious rites in churches, especially in Tripoli.