Foreign journalists targeted in Libya

The difficulties that foreign journalists face while reporting on the violence in Libya was highlighted this week when three British Broadcasting Corp. staff were detained, beaten and subjected to mock executions by pro-regime soldiers while attempting to reach the western city of Zawiya.

The members of a BBC Arabic team said they were moved between several locations,
in some cases alongside civilian captives who had visible injuries from heavy beatings. The BBC said the men were held for 21 hours before they were released, and have since left Libya.

“[Foreign journalists] are considered by the authorities in Tripoli as working in collaboration with al-Qaeda,” says Soazig Dollet, head of the Middle East and North Africa department for Reporters without Borders. “The authorities do not spare their words regarding what they could do to these journalists if they would be arrested.”

In addition to the threats, obtaining information from civilians is also becoming an obstacle. Dollet says “a lot of people are really scared to report to a foreign organization.”

There are 50-100 foreign journalists in the capital who have been invited into the country – but measures have been put in place to stop them from operating freely.

“The only thing that they can do is follow what the authorities want them to do, and they can’t circulate and can’t do work without authorization,” Dollet told Vatican Radio.

Listen to Soazig Dollet’s full interview with Kelsea Brennan-Wessels: