The armed conflicts that Libya has witnessed over the last nine years have created a climate of hostility and hatred towards workers in journalism and media. The war over the capital, Tripoli, which has been ongoing for thirteen months, and the sharp divisions between the different political sides have worsened their troubles, putting them at risk of assassination and forcing them to take one side over the other. This has forced many of them to leave the country.
Twenty-two Libyan journalists have been killed since the 17 February revolution in 2011, but many more have been kidnapped and detained for long periods, in addition to many being severely injured while working in conflict zones in the capital; in some cases, these injuries lead to amputation.
The deputy head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya for political affairs, Stephanie Williams, has called “on the Libyan authorities and all parties to the conflict to protect journalists and media workers, guarantee the right to freedom of opinion and expression, including the right to seek, receive, and impart information to the public”.
She said, “Journalists are the voice of the voiceless; they should not be silenced."
Truth should not become yet another casualty of the ongoing war. A free press is crucial for providing facts, information and analysis, holding leaders accountable, and for speaking truth. This is particularly true in the time of conflict or crisis, with Libyans now under threat from both the year-long conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a letter that to the UN envoy she issued two days ago, Williams highlighted the "occasion to raise concerns about the dramatic increase, both online and offline, in misinformation, incitement to violence and hate speech - including threats against media workers – that has occurred over the past year.”
She warned that “this has fueled a climate of mistrust, fear, and violence among different groups, contributed to deepening pre-existing divides in Libya and further weakened an already fragile social fabric”.
Al-Warji, a pseudonym which the source uses because of the nature of his work, said: “We are suffering from real difficulties on the frontline; in addition to the constant risk of dying at any moment, we are being asked by the local authorities to take one side over the other, although our permits may be canceled if we did so”.
Among the many cases that have been reported, the UN envoy has documented two cases of journalists being killed in South Tripoli last October and January. Two media stations were attacked and burned down in Sirte last April 3rd.
The director of the Qara Bolli radio station disappeared while driving his car in East Tripoli and his fate and whereabouts are still unknown. The annual Human Rights Watch report published in February 2020 said that violence against journalists in Libya has forced more than eighty-three Libyan journalists to leave the country between 2015 and 2018.
At the beginning of the ongoing war in the capital, the deposed Mufti of Libya, al-Sadeq al-Gharyani, rushed to describe journalists and media workers in pro-Libyan National Army channels as “mercenaries and the arms of the coup”; some have considered that this statement have jeopardized the lives of tens of journalists.
