UPDATE 4 April 2011: Reuters reporters Suleiman Al-Khalidi and Khaled al-Hariri have been freed in Syria, the news agency reported. In another update, in Libya, one of four Al-Jazeera correspondents who are in detention, Lotfi Al Masoudi, has been freed, the network reported on its website on 3 April. Al Masoudi was originally detained with his colleagues Ahmed Val Ould Eddin, Kamel Al-Tallou and Amar Al-Hamdan on 19 March. They were released on 31 March, but re-arrested on the same day.

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Reuters correspondent Michael Georgy was expelled from Libya by the authorities on 30 March, the latest attack against a journalist from the international news agency.

Georgy had been in Tripoli since 28 February along with a handful of other foreign correspondents, and, earlier this month, was detained for several hours along with a Reuters photographer after the pair left their government minders to travel to Misrata city, the news agency reported.

No reason was given for Georgy’s expulsion, and he departed for Tunisia yesterday, Reuters said.

The expulsion of Reuters’ Libya correspondent is the latest in a number of attacks against journalists working for the wire service. Reuters’ correspondents in Saudia Arabia and Syria were recently expelled by the authorities there. On 29 March, Reuters reporter Sabah al-Bazee was killed in an explosion in Iraq.

Two Reuters TV journalists reported missing in Syria over the weekend were released on Monday, the agency reported. However, on Thursday a further two were reported missing. One of them was subsequently reported as being in Syrian detention.

“We urge the authorities in Libya, and in all countries experiencing unrest, to allow not only local journalists, but journalists from the foreign media access to cover unfolding events,” said IPI Director Alison Bethel McKenzie. “Reuters is a highly regarded news provider, and preventing their correspondents from working does not undermine the agency’s credibility; it only strengthens the impression that the authorities have something to hide.”