Tripoli  - Libyan authorities on Tuesday released two men imprisoned since February 2007 for planning a protest in Tripoli. They were the last of their group to be freed, human rights groups said.

Libya's State Security court sentenced Jamal al-Haji and Faraj Humaid to 12 and 15 years in prison, respectively, in February 2007 for planning to attend a protest in Tripoli's Martyr Square to commemorate a the anniversary of a 2006 clash between protesters and police that left 11 people dead.

"The release of Jamal al-Haji and Faraj Humaid is a particularly welcome step in light of the Libyan authorities' stated initiative of breaking with the past," Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at the New York-based pressure group Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday.

Libyan authorities released the protest's organiser, Idris Boufayed, in October so he could seek medical treatment for lung cancer.

The rest of the 12 people arrested for planning to participate in the protest were released between June and February 2009, Human Rights Watch said.

Western governments and human rights organizations had repeatedly appealed to the Libyan government to release the men, who became known collectively as the "Boufayed group." (dpa)