Journalist arrested in Tripoli

Reporters Without Borders has learned of the arrest on 16 March in Tripoli of Lofti Ghars, a journalist with joint Tunisian and Canadian citizenship who works for Al-Alam TV. Ghars was reportedly detained by pro-Gaddafi forces as he arrived in Libya from Tunisia. Lofti Messaoudi, a Tunisian journalist working for Al-Jazeera who was released on 31 March, said he heard Ghars’ voice while held in a Tripoli jail. Reporters Without Borders calls for his immediate release. On 3 April, the Libyan authorities asked the Daily Telegraph reporter Damien McElroy to leave the country without giving any reason. US journalist Michael Georgy of the Reuters news agency was previously expelled on 30 March, again without explanation. Three Al-Jazeera journalists who were arrested in early March – Mauritian reporter Ahmed Vall Ould el-Dine, Norwegian photographer Ammar Al-Hamdane and British photographer Kamel Al-Tallou' – are still being held by pro-Gaddafi forces in the west of the country. A fourth Al-Jazeera journalist who was arrested at the same time, Tunisian Lotfi Messaoudi, was released on 31 March. Reporters Without Borders is also concerned about the whereabouts of Syrian journalist Rana Akbani, who has not been heard of since her disappearance in the east of the country on 28 March. In a televised interview on Al-Libya TV, a presenter accused her of spying.