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Journalists under attack in Libya: The tally

CPJ has documented more than 50 attacks on the press since political unrest erupted in Libya last month. They include one fatality, a gunshot injury, 25 detentions, five assaults, two attacks on news facilities, the jamming of Al-Jazeera and Al-Hurra transmissions, at least three instances of obstruction, and the interruption of Internet service. Equipment has been confiscated in numerous instances, and at least 10 journalists, are missing. Here's a running list of all attacks on journalists and the media in Libya since February 16:

Reported on March 16

The New York Times reported that four of its journalists have been missing since March 15. The missing journalists are the paper's Beirut Bureau Chief Anthony Shadid, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner; reporter Stephen Farrell; and photographers Tyler Hicks and Lynsey Addario. The Times said "it had received second-hand reports that members of "its reporting team on the ground in the port city of Ajdabiya had been swept up by Libyan government forces."
The U.K. Guardian confirmed that its correspondent Ghaith Abdul-Ahad has been released from custody in Libya. Abdul-Ahad, an Iraqi award-winning war reporter, was detained by Libyan authorities with Andrei Netto, a correspondent for Brazilian newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo, on March 2, according to the Guardian. Netto was released on March 10.

Reported on March 13:

Unidentified gunmen killed an Al-Jazeera cameraman and wounded his colleague near the eastern rebel-held city of Benghazi in an ambush on March 12, according to the Qatar-based satellite station. This is the first confirmed journalist death reported in the Libyan conflict.
The Al-Jazeera crew was returning from covering an opposition demonstration in Suluq, 30 miles (50 kilometers) southwest of Benghazi, when unidentified gunmen opened fire on their car, according to Al-Jazeera correspondent Baybah Wald Amhadi, who was traveling with the crew. Wald Amhadi said on the air that cameraman Ali Hassan al-Jaber was hit with three bullets and taken to the hospital, where he died. Naser al-Hadar received one bullet above his ear, causing light injuries. Wald Amhadi said that the type of ammunition used in the attack, disintegrating frangible bullets, was the same type that pro-Qaddafi forces have been using against civilians.

Reported on March 11:

After The Guardian this week issued a public plea for information on correspondent Ghaith Abdul-Ahad's whereabouts, the Libyan Foreign Ministry in Tripoli acknowledged that the reporter was in state custody, the newspaper reported on March 10. The basis of the detention was not disclosed.
A group of foreign journalists was prevented from covering protesters who had gathered in a mosque in the Tajoura district of Tripoli, Reuters reported. The journalists were approached by men in uniforms, told they must leave, and then driven back to their hotel. Another reporter who tried to reach Tajoura by taxi was stopped by police and barred from traveling there, Reuters reported.
Peter Beaumont, reporting from Tripoli for The Guardian, reported on March 8 that "journalists cannot operate freely in Tripoli at all, despite repeated promises from individuals including [Qaddafi's] son, Saif al-Islam, and the deputy foreign minister, Khalid Khayem." The Guardian reporter said he had been detained twice since he arrived in Libya. Among those held near Zawiya for hours on March 5, Beaumont was later detained for three hours by military forces at a Tripoli checkpoint. Three other journalists were detained with him in the Tripoli episode, he said.

Reported on March 10:

Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, a correspondent for London's Guardian newspaper, was reported missing. Abdul-Ahad, an Iraqi who is an award-winning war reporter, was last known to be on the outskirts of the coastal city of Zawiya, where there has been heavy fighting between rebels and forces loyal to Muammar Qaddafi. The Guardian said Abdul-Ahad and was last in touch with the paper through a third party on March 6.
Andrei Netto, a reporter for Brazil's O Estado de S. Paolo, was released today to the Brazilian ambassador in Tripoli after being jailed for eight days in the city of Sabrata, O Estado reported on its website. O Estado said Netto, who had been held by troops loyal to Qaddafi, was in good health but was told to leave Libya on March 11.
The whereabouts of at least six local journalists remained unclear. Atef al-Atrash, a contributor to local news outlets, disappeared shortly after speaking on air on Al-Jazeera from Benghazi. Mohamed al-Sahim, a blogger and critical political writer; Mohamed al-Amin, a cartoonist; and Idris al-Mismar, a writer and former editor-in-chief of Arajin, a monthly culture magazine, have also been reported missing. Two Tripoli-based journalists--Salma al-Shaab, head of the Libyan Journalists Syndicate, and Suad al-Turabouls, a correspondent for the pro-government Al-Jamahiriya--were detained last month but are now unaccounted for.
Three BBC journalists--reporter Feras Killani, cameraman Goktay Koraltan, and producer Chris Cobb-Smith--were released on March 8 after 21 hours of abuse that included beatings and mock executions, according to news reports. Killani told the BBC: "They were kicking and punching me, four or five men. I went down on to my knees. They attacked me as soon as I got out of the car. They knocked me down to the ground with their guns, AK47s. I was down on my knees and I heard them cocking their guns. I thought they were going to shoot me." He said he was later beaten severely and accused of being a spy. Cobb-Smith described a mock execution: "A man with a small submachine gun was putting it to the nape of everyone's neck in turn. He pointed the barrel at each of us. When he got to me at the end of the line, he pulled the trigger twice. The shots went past my ear." Cobb-Smith managed to place a call to the BBC with a phone that had not been discovered by security agents.

Reported on March 9:

In the early morning hours of March 9, assailants whom witnesses said may have belonged to Libya's Revolutionary Guards threw a hand grenade into the lobby of the Ouzo Hotel in central Benghazi and fled the scene, according to international and regional news reports. No deaths or injuries were reported, German Press Agency DPA reported. A BBC spokeswoman said on March 8 that three BBC employees were detained overnight but have since been released. The BBC did not provide additional information. Reuters quoted government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim as saying that "the military don't have any experience dealing with the media. They are involved in ground operations. They don't want any media presence."
Also, on March 9, three BBC journalists recounted a harrowing 21 hours in the custody of Libyan military and security forces this week during which they were subjected to physical assault and psychological torment. The three, along with their driver, were detained at a checkpoint in Al-Zahra, south of contested city of Zawiya.

Reported on March 4:

Hundreds of anti-Qaddafi protesters gathered in Tajoura, a suburb of Tripoli, after Muslim prayers, but security forces quickly dispersed them with tear gas and live ammunition, according to international news reports. Official minders told foreign journalists to remain in the Rixos Hotel in Tripoli in the morning, preventing them from covering demonstrations, according to news reports. Around 130 foreign journalists were reportedly staying in the hotel. The authorities finally agreed to allow the reporters to leave but only if they went on a government-led tour, press reports said. Foreign journalists attempting to reach the site were stopped and aggressively searched by militiamen loyal to Qaddafi, said Borzou Daragahi, who is reporting in Tripoli for the Los Angeles Times.
Government spokesman Musa Ibrahim said that the restrictions on journalists' movements were due to security reasons. "We have intelligence that Al-Qaeda gunmen are in the city waiting for you," the Wall Street Journal reported Ibrahim as saying. "You can criticize us but we will not allow Tripoli to become the next Baghdad."
Libyan Leader Muammar Qaddafi said on March 2 in a three-hour long speech said that "Libya doesn't like foreign correspondents. They shouldn't even know about the weather forecasts in Libya, because we are suspicious," the New York Timesreported.
Internet services and phone connections in Tripoli were sporadic, according to news reports.

Reported on March 1:

Security forces arrested the head of Libyan Journalists Syndicate, Salma al-Shaab, and Suad al-Turabouls, a correspondent for the pro-government Al-Jamahiriyanewspaper, on February 28 in Tripoli, according to news reports. However, a local journalist told CPJ that al-Shaab dissapeared about 10 days ago after she spoke to Al-Jazeera. The arrests were thought to be related to the journalists' work with Al-Jazeera, according to Quryna, a privately owned Libyan newspaper. Quryna said security forces are conducting a widespread campaign of arrests against journalists that are in contact with non-Libyan media.
Jalal al-Kawafi, a detained Libyan blogger and political writer, was freed on February 26 after protesters expelled pro-Qaddafi forces from the city. Al-Kawafi had been arrested shortly before February 17, a local journalist from Benghazi, Naim Ibrahim al-Ushayba, told CPJ. The whearabouts of at least four journalists from Benghazi are still unknown. They are: Atef al-Atrash, Idris al-Mismar, Mohamed al-Sahim, and Mohamed al-Amin.
Jamming of Al-Jazeera and Al-Hurra continued. Al-Jazeera's signal was being intermittently jammed since February 2, according to the network, although it intensified after anti-government protests began in the country. Al-Hurra reportedit is being jammed on the Nilesat satellite.
Ushayba said radio station Voice of Free Libya, formerly state-controlled but now controlled by protesters, received call-in threats of potential suicide bombings. Hanan Jallal, a local activist in Benghazi who is a member of a newly organized protesters' media office in Benghazi, told CPJ that Voice of Free Libya's signal was experiencing interference because of possible government jamming.
In Misurata, 125 miles (200 kilometers) east of Tripoli, on February 28, a helicopter tried to destroy the antenna of a local radio station that protesters had taken over, international media reported. Anti-Qaddafi protesters took control of the city on February 24, according to news reports. Misurata is the third largest city in Libya, after Tripoli and Benghazi.

Reported on February 25:

In Libya, foreign journalists entering the country from Tunisia tweeted that their cameras, hard drives, and SIM cards were confiscated by border patrol guards. Paul Danahar, a BBC journalist reporting from Tunisia-Libya border, said that Suresh Kothia, "an Indian who just arrived from Libya," told him that "at the last checkpoint the Libyan army took everyone's phone SIM cards and computer hard drives to stop images of the uprising getting out." Kothia told Danahar that equipment was broken and thrown to the ground.

Reported on February 24:

Saif al-Islam, the son of Muammar Qaddafi, announced during an appearance on the official station, Libyan TV, that the country was accessible to the international press. "Starting today, Libya will be opened to journalists from all over the world," he said, according to Al-Jazeera. However, in the same speech he attacked the Arab media. "The conspiracy doesn't come from Libyans but from your Arab brothers who unleashed on you their broadcasters, poisoned words, and false rumors." He added that "this is a media battle. They misguided the Libyans with media and false information. The information that these stations and channels are broadcasting is a lie," he said, according to Dubai-based satellite channel Al-Arabiya.
The New York Times reported that three Libyan bloggers tweeted that Libyana, the country's leading cell phone provider, sent residents of Tripoli text messages that said that "a local cleric issued a fatwa against watching television channels 'like Al Jazeera,' that incite bloodshed."
Naim Ibrahim al-Ushayba, a Libyan journalist from Benghazi and a correspondent for Libya Al-Youm news website, told CPJ that there was still no news about his colleague Atef al-Atrash, who disappeared after speaking to Al-Jazeera on the air on February 17. Al-Ushayba said the following other journalists have also been missing since the day before the demonstrations began: Mohamed al-Sahim, a blogger and political writer who published a critical article about the Libyan regime shortly before February 17; Mohamed al-Amin, a cartoonist; blogger Jalal al-Kawafi; and Idris al-Mismar, a writer and the former editor-in-chief of Arajin, a monthly culture magazine.
A government militia briefly detained a group of nine Italian journalists invited by the Libyan government to Tripoli as they drove to the city center from the airport, Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported. Fabrizio Caccia, a correspondent forCorriere, was beaten and kicked. The journalists were released after an inspection and were able to reach their hotel in the capital, according to the paper.

Reported on February 23:

Deputy Foreign Minister Khalid Khaim warned journalists who entered Libya illegally that they will be arrested if they do not give themselves in to authorities, according to Agence France-Presse. "There are journalists who entered illegally and we consider them as if they are collaborating with Al-Qaeda and as outlaws and we are not responsible for their security," Khaim said. Qaddafi's government lost control over the eastern border on February 22, according to news reports.
Attacks on Internet connectivity in the region continued. In Libya, Net connections with the wider world were suspended entirely for periods of several hours over the weekend. Levels of incoming and outgoing Internet traffic as recorded by monitors outside the country are unusually low, suggesting that the Net may be being artificially restricted or specific regions cut off from outside access. Yemen traffic also dropped earlier in the month, which Internet security experts Arbor Networks have suggested may be due to the installation of increased filtering.

Reported on February 22:

Atef Al-Atrash disappeared after reporting live on Al-Jazeera from demonstrations in Benghazi, the network reported. He also reported that "several journalists" had been detained in the second largest city of Libya but did not provide names. He added on the air that his mobile phone service had been cut off and that he felt there was "a clear attempt being made to isolate him," although he didn't name who he felt was pursuing him. Al-Atrash is a contributor to several Libyan news websites, including Libya-Watanona and Libya al-Mustakbal, where he often criticized the Libyan government. He also covered local news from Benghazi.

Reported on February 18:

Twitter, Facebook, and Al-Jazeera's website were blocked, according to multiplenews reports.
Al-Jazeera's broadcast was jammed on Arabsat, the network reported on the air. It continues to broadcast from other satellites.
Protesters in Benghazi took over a state radio station and are broadcasting live online, according to Foreign Policy. "The radio commentary itself is gripping, with breathless amateur announcers calling on the international media to cover what 'the criminal Qaddafi' is doing and warning fellow Libyans about 'foreign mercenaries,'" the magazine reported.

Reported on February 16:

Writer and blogger Mohamed Ashim was detained after security forces raided his home and confiscated his computer and mobile phone, according to news reports.
Taqi al-Din al-Shalawi, the director of Irassa, a local, independent news website, and Abdel Fattah Bourwaq, the site's editor-in-chief, were summoned for questioning by internal security forces, according to daily newspaper Libya Al-Youm.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This entry is being updated on a regular basis.

Shamsul Islam Naz

Friday, March 18, 2011