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By Sami Zaptia.
Tripoli, 25 August 2014:
The studios of the privately owned Al-Assema TV station in the Gurji Road in west Tripoli were . . .[restrict]attacked and ransacked yesterday for the fourth time since the channel was founded in 2011.
The station, which has been a supporter of the political positions taken by the National Forces Alliance during the era of the GNC and now supports the House of Representatives (HoR), has accused the pro-Islamist bloc of responsibility for all of the attacks on it.
The latest attack comes as part of a continuing and wider battle by the opposing political streams in Libya to control the media and the flow of information.
Last week, the Libyan government requested that the Cairo based Nilesat authority terminate the broadcasts of its two state-owned Al-Rasmiya and Al-Wataniya channels which had been forcibly taken over by Islamist militias.
The channels had adopted an anti-HoR position and had refrained from broadcasting the opening session of the HoR or any of its sessions. The channels also started supporting the Libya Dawn operation in Tripoli and opposed the Dignity Operation in eastern Libya.
Almost immediately after Nilesat stopped rebroadcasting both stations, a missile was launched at the Al-Assema studios. Yesterday’s attack was far more devastating.
Unconfirmed reports Sunday said that the house of the owner of Al-Assema TV, Juma Al-Usta, was also ransacked. [/restrict]
