TUNIS
Libyan journalists have been repeatedly targeted – with impunity – by local armed groups over the past two years, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said.
"The climate of impunity has allowed militias to assault, threaten, kidnap, or even kill journalists because of their reporting or views," Joe Stork, HRW's deputy Middle East and North Africa director, told a press conference in Tunis.
The presser accompanied the watchdog's release of a 54-page report entitled "War on the Media: Journalists under Attack in Libya."
According to the report, Libyan authorities have failed to hold anyone accountable for attacks on journalists and media outlets since 2012, most of which were committed by non-state actors.
"Government authorities and non-state actors who control territory should urgently condemn attacks on journalists and, where possible, hold those responsible to account," Stork asserted.
The report also lamented that Libyan courts had been used to prosecute journalists – and others – for speech-related offenses, including "defaming" public officials and other charges that violate free speech.
The hostile atmosphere has prompted dozens of Libyan journalists to flee to Tunisia, Egypt and Turkey to cover the situation in the war-torn North African country from self-imposed exile.
In its report, HRW documented at least 91 cases of threats and assaults – including eight killings – against Libyan journalists (14 of them women) from mid-2012 to November 2014.
The report also cited 26 armed attacks against television and radio stations, mostly by armed groups seeking to "punish" the targeted media outlets.
Libya has been dogged by political instability since Muammar Gaddafi's 2011 ouster and death.
In the more than three years since, rival militias have frequently clashed in Libya's main cities, including Benghazi and capital Tripoli. The central government, meanwhile, has remained largely absent from the scene.
The country's sharp political divisions have yielded two rival seats of government, each of which has its own institutions.
The UN recently sponsored a dialogue initiative to be held in Geneva in an effort to reconcile the fractious country's warring camps.
