Just a few days after a BBC News crew reported being held for 21 hours, and tortured, in Libya, a journalist working for British newspaper the Guardian is still unreachable in the country, news outlets said on Friday. A Brazilian journalist detained with the Guardian reporter was freed by government forces on Thursday.

IPI condemns the treatment of the media by the Libyan authorities and calls for the immediate release of the missing journalist, as well as of Libyan journalists reportedly also in detention.

Andrei Netto, working for the Brazilian newspaper O Estado de São Paulo, and Ghaith Abdul-Ahad of the Guardian were both arrested on 2 March in Zawiyah, a town 30 km from the capital, according to media reports. The Guardian had subsequently confirmed that Abdul-Ahad and Netto were being held by Libyan authorities.

Netto is expected to return home today but Abdul-Ahad has remained unreachable since his last contact with the newspaper on Sunday. An Iraqi national, Abdul-Ahad is a respected war correspondent and has often covered conflicts for the Guardian. The newspaper said that it was in touch with Libyan authorities in London and Tripoli and has asked authorities to ensure Abdul-Ahad’s wellbeing.

“It is vital that media personnel, especially in times of crisis, be allowed to fulfill the vital function of gathering and transmitting news,” said IPI Press Freedom Manager Anthony Mills. “We call on all parties to the conflict in Libya to ensure that no journalists are prevented from doing their job because of arrest, assault or any other form of intimidation or harassment.”