Doha Centre for Media Freedom denounces the detention of Al Jazeera crew in Libya and calls for an international campaign for the release of all journalists arrested by Gaddafi troops.
Doha Centrefor Media Freedom strongly condemns the detention of the Al Jazeera TV crewin Libya for several days and urges Libyan authorities to immediately release the four members of the crew:
- Ahmed Vall Ould Al Deen, Mauritanian national
- Lutfi al Masudi Tunisian National
- Amar Jihad Al Hamdan NorwegianNational
- Kamel Al-Taloa British national
Al Jazeera crew members were in the line of duty covering events in western Libya when Gaddafi troops captured them and led them to an unknown location.
The Doha Centre for Media Freedom also expresses its deepest concern about the continuing disappearance of other journalists in mysterious circumstances inside Libyan since the outbreak of the conflict.
Also, there have been no news of the two journalists from France Press Agency, Daive Clark and Robert Shemit since Friday March 18th after they left Tubrok morning to a suburb of the city to meet members of the Libyan opposition. The two journalists were accompanied by cameraman Joe Riddle of the agency Getty Images.
In light of Libyan regime's violations of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Convention, the Doha Centre for Media Freedom condemns the arrests of journalists and the murder of the Qatari Cameraman, Ali Hasan Al Jaber who was killed March 12th. The centre also condemns the murder of Libyan Journalist Mohamed Al Nabs from the Libya Al Hurra channel who was killed last Saturday in Benghazi.
Given the gravity of the situation, Doha Centre for Media Freedom calls on the President of the Human Rights Council in Geneva and the European Union and the Attorney General of the International Criminal Court and the Director-General of UNESCO and the High Commissioner for Human Rights and all international civil and professional organisations to immediately intervene to save the lives of journalists held in the detention centres of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and pressure by all means for the release of their release.
The Doha Centre for Media Freedom calls upon all press unions and federations, human rights and press centres to organise demonstrations and sit-ins in front of the headquarters of the International Criminal Court and its representative offices around the world and the United Nations headquarters in Geneva to demand the immediate release of detained journalists and the punishment of those responsible for the killings and arrests targeting journalists working in Libya.
