Japan's tiny Libyan community found itself in a tight spot when radiation scares swept the nation following the Tohoku triple disaster and foreigners fled the country en masse.
While many embassies urged its nationals to leave Japan, Adel Suliman said Libyans here couldn't go home, with their nation split in an ongoing, bloody civil war between forces loyal to dictator Col. Moammar Gadhafi and the opposition National Transitional Council being aided by a NATO-led bombing campaign.
"We used to joke that Libyans living in Japan must be one of the most agonized people in the world," laughed Suliman, who organized anti-Gadhafi demonstrations in Tokyo in late February, before the March 11 earthquake and tsunami erased the Libyan conflict from domestic headlines.