Two U.S. journalists held in Libya, James Foley and Clare Morgan Gillis, received their first visit since they were detained on 5 April, AFP reported on Thursday. Members of the diplomatic corps in Tripoli met with the two on Wednesday and reportedly said that both were in good health and being taken care of.
The intermediary also visited Spanish photographer Manuel Brabo, who was captured together with Foley, Gillis, and the South African/Austrian photojournalist Anton Hammerl, AFP quoted Philip Balboni, the CEO of GlobalPost.com, as saying. The three are apparently being held captive in a detention facility in Tripoli.
“We have had some indications that their release may be coming soon but there is no date yet,” Balboni told the news agency. There has been no word on Hammerl, who has been missing for over a month now.
Foley, Gillis and Brabo were captured near Brega in eastern Libya while covering fighting between rebels and the forces of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi. Hammerl was reportedly last seen in the same area.
Over 30 reporters, photographers and cameramen have been detained in Libya since 16 February. Eighteen of them have been released.
Four Al-Jazeera journalists were captured on 19 March and held for twelve days. On 31 March, they were released only to be detained again the same day. Out of the four, cameraman Kamel (Ammar) Al-Tallou is currently still in custody.
On 6 April, NPR published a report saying that at least 20 journalists had been forced out of the country on government orders.
IPI’s Death Watch also identifies the deaths of at least four journalists in the country over the past five months. Two of them, documentary filmmaker Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros of the Getty photo agency, were both killed in April in an attack in the city of Misrata.
IPI Press Freedom Manager Anthony Mills said: “While we are pleased to hear of the meetings with an intermediary, we continue to urge the Libyan authorities to release all the journalists in captivity. We are particularly concerned at the lack of information about the well-being of a number of those reporters still being held, both foreign and local.”