Libyan TV reporter abducted a month ago in Sirte, still missing

Ali Al-Rifawi works for 218 TV, an independent privately-owned Libyan TV channel that broadcasts from Spain and is often the target of attacks by Libya's various military factions. Local observers think the aim off his abduction was to pressure the indpendant media 218 TV into changing its editorial policies.

RSF's correspondent in Sirte has been following the case and has spoken to Rifawi's family. His father says that he has no information about where his son is being held, and that the authorities have still not recognised that they are holding him. According to tribal sources, he is being held in the city of Benghazi.

The family, which stresses that it is not aware of any official grounds for his arrest, hopes that his detention will become official, so that a lawyer will at least be able to visit him, and that he will be released before the festival of Eid on 2 May.

"It is unacceptable that Libyan journalists continue to be persecuted although they are just doing their job of reporting the news, RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire said. We call for journalist Ali Al-Rifawi's immediate and unconditional release."

Libya has been beset by political turmoil ever since a popular uprising toppled the Muammar Gaddafi regime in 2011. The country now has two governments, one based in Tripoli that enjoys the international community's official recognition and one based in Benghazi that is backed by a number of countries, especially in the Gulf.

In January, RSF providing the UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya with a report on press freedom violations and the many abuses against journalists in Libya since 2016. On the basis of information gathered from local sources, the RSF report detailed threats and attacks against 12 journalists and 11 media outlets in particular, including extrajudicial executions, arbitrary arrests and acts of intimidation. None of these crimes has been the subject of a judicial investigation, trial or conviction, RSF pointed out.

Tasked by the UN Human Rights Council with investigating human rights violations in Libya since the start of 2016, the Independent Fact-Finding Mission is due to present its next report during the Council's 50th session in June.

Libya is ranked 165th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2021 World Press Freedom Index, the lowest position it has ever held.