5 - 11 Novermber 2015
Weekly Media Monitoring report for Libya (5 - 11 Novermber 2015)
Posted on November 12, 2015
Contents
Compiled by Amira Arif
- Two Serbian diplomats kidnapped in city outside triploi, Libyan students in arrested by the authorities in Serbia in retaliation
- Another journalist is kidnapped, past five weeks have seen a spike in number of kidnapped journalists
1. Two Serbian diplomats kidnapped in city outside triploi, Libyan students in arrested by the authorities in Serbia in retaliation
Government owed media
Libya News Agency (state-owend online meida platform, article dated November 11th 2015, in English)
- The Serbian prime minister Alexandar Vucic announced that his country had sent a team of security experts and diplomats to Libya to seek release of the embassy's staff
- Contact with kidnappers shows the diplomats are still alive
Independent Media
The Libya Herald (independent online media platform, article dated November 10th 2015, in English)
- A convoy of Serbian diplomatis including the ambassador was travelling without authorization before the attack, claims a spokeman for the PM Ghwell of the Tripoli-based government (General National Congress)
- The Government spokesman suggest that the convoy would have been given a security escort had the diplomats given advance notice. And that diplomats had breached rules which forbade them from moving outside a 30-kilometre zone around Tripoli without telling the administration’s foreign affairs ministry
- Serbian media reports are claiming the location of the kidnapped officials has been established, negotiations with the kidnappers are in progress and that the motive for the seizure is financial.
- The diplomats have been identified as Sladjana Stankovic, the communications official, and Jovica Stepic, a driver
The Libya Herald (independent online media platform, article dated November 10th 2015, in English)
- The Serbian authorities have arrested a number of Libyan students who are pursuing their studies in Serbia
- The students were apprehended in one of the Serbian airports when they were planning to leave Serbia for Libya
- Mayor of Sabratha denies any involvement in the abduction, says the Serbian Embassy is responsible for the event for passing through the city without prior coordination with the Sabratha authorities for protection
2. Another journalist is kidnapped; past five weeks have seen a spike in number of kidnapped journalists
The Libya Herald (independent online media platform, article dated November 11th 2015, in English)
- A journalist was kidnapped in Tripoli from outside his home
- The journalist is a civil society activist and the manager of the Waddan hotel
- It is reported that five journalists have been detained over the past couple of weeks
- No group has claimed responsibility for the abduction but on the ground sources tell Libya Herlad that journalists are being targeted for their anti-Libya dawn stances
- The NGO Reporters Without Borders has issued its own condemnation of militia attacks on journalists today noting that militias have been responsible for 31 attacks on Libyan journalists this year
- There is still no update on the condition of recently kidnapped journalist Mohamed Al-Naili working for the Chinese news agency Xinhua