SENIOR LIBYAN officials said journalists who had entered the country “illegally” would be considered terrorist sympathisers and “risk immediate arrest”.
Dozens of reporters entered Libya for the first time in four decades yesterday. Most journalists have entered the embattled country through its eastern border with Egypt, which is reportedly “liberated” from Muammar Gadafy’s regime.
Libya has allowed some members of CNN, BBC Arabic and al-Arabiya to remain in the country, despite a longstanding ban on international media.
The US state department said in a press notice: “In meetings with senior Libyan government officials, US diplomats were told that some members of CNN, BBC Arabic and Al Arabiya would be allowed into the country to report on the current situation.
“These same senior officials also said that some reporters had entered the country illegally and that the Libyan government now considered these reporters al-Qaeda collaborators.”
Khalid Kayem, Libya’s deputy foreign minister, warned that journalists who have entered the country illegally will be “considered outlaws”.
The US state department advice added: “Be advised, entering Libya to report on the events unfolding there, is additionally hazardous with the government labelling unauthorised media as terrorist collaborators and claiming they will be arrested if caught.”
More western journalists are understood to be on their way to Libya, with some entering through the country’s northwestern border with Tunisia – just under 160kms from the Libyan capital, Tripoli.
Tripoli remains largely closed off to foreign media, as Gadafy’s militiamen retain their fierce grip. Unlike the eastern province, where the majority of foreign journalists are based, Tripoli has so far not fallen into opposition hands.
For security reasons, most news organisations will not confirm the exact whereabouts in Libya of their correspondents.
The London Independent’s Robert Fisk arrived at Tripoli airport yesterday. He reported: “[...] a 45-minute visit into the city for a new airline ticket to another destination is the only chance to see Gadafy’s capital if you are a ‘dog’ of the international press.”
Martin Chulov, foreign correspondent for the Guardian, and Ben Wedeman, CNN’s foreign correspondent, are thought to have been the first western journalists to report from Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city, on Wednesday. Wedeman posted on Twitter yesterday: “As first western TV crew to make it to Benghazi we were greeted like liberators, pelted with candy, cheers and thanks. Very humbling.”