UPDATE 23.03.2011: Two reporters with Agence France Press (AFP) and a photographer with Getty Images, who were detained last week in Libya reportedly by soldiers friendly to Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, were released early today, AFP reported.
Qaddafi spokesman Mussa Ibrahim announced yesterday that “The leader of the revolution (Moamer Kadhafi) received an appeal from the French press agency, the CEO Mr. Emmanuel Hoog, and the leader basically asked the Libyan state and government to release these journalists.”
AFP reporters Dave Clark and Roberto Schmidt and Getty photographer Joe Raedle were detained by soldiers on 20 March while driving from Tobruk to Ajdabiya, their drivers said. Their vehicle was intercepted by soldiers, who forced the journalists from their vehicle at gunpoint and were driven away with another vehicle.
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UPDATE 21.03.2011: The New York Times journalists who were reported missing last week have been freed, according to a report in the newspaper today. IPI welcomes the release of Anthony Shadid, Tyler Hicks, Lynsey Addario and Stephen Farrell.
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Monday, 21.03.2011: The founder of online channel Libya Al-Hurra, or Free Libya, was killed by snipers in the eastern city of Benghazi on Saturday, according to news reports, and an Al-Jazeera news crew has been detained by forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Qaddafi.
Mohammed al-Nabbous, 28, was shot during the violence as Qaddafi’s forces attacked Benghazi, which was the first city that the rebels took after anti-regime protests began a month ago, reports say.
Al-Nabbous, who had owned a computer company, used the internet and satellite to upload reports to the Free Libya channel on livestream.com, which he founded when the uprising began, according to the German magazine Der Spiegel. He is the second journalist to have been killed in the ensuing violence.
The first fatality was Ali Hasan Jabar, a cameraman with Al Jazeera, who was killed in an apparent ambush last week.
“Our condolences go out to the wife, family, and colleagues of Mohammed al-Nabous,” said IPI Press Freedom Manager Anthony Mills. “As the violence in Libya continues, we again call on the Libyan government and all parties to respect the rights of journalists and citizens to distribute news of the events, and call for the immediate release of all reporters currently in government custody.”
A number of news providers have announced that their correspondents are missing or have been detained in Libya. Al-Jazeera announced on 19 March that four of its reporters were detained sometime last week, according to Reuters.
Agence-France Presse (AFP) announced on 20 March that two of its reporters and a photographer have been missing since Saturday. The last communication from Dave Clark and Roberto Schmidt, who were accompanied by Getty Images photographer Joe Raedle, said they would head to eastern Tobruk to cover events there; nothing has been heard from the three of them since then, AFP reported.
The Libyan authorities have told U.S. authorities that they will release four journalists from The New York Times, who were first reported missing on 16 March, according to an 18 March report in the Times. However, there has been no news of their release since then.
This brings to eight the total number of journalists known to be detained by the authorities, in addition to the missing AFP journalists.
