By Ajnadin Mustafa.
Tripoli, 10 October 2014:
A TV presenter with Alassema TV station was reported to have been seized in Tripoli this . . .[restrict]evening by an armed group and taken to an unknown destination.
Maad Al-Tleeb was in the capital’s Salahaddin district with a friend when, at around 7 pm this evening, a white Chevrolet pulled over and three men in military uniform and armed with Kalashnikovs got out and grabbed him. According to the friend, he had seen Al-Tleeb being taken to the nearby Yarmouk camp, currently controlled by Libya Dawn forces,
The reporter’s family are said to have gone to the camp but were told by the camp commander that no one had been taken there today.
Based in the capital, Alaseema (which means Capital in Arabic) has taken a consistently pro-army, pro-police, pro-HoR and anti-Ansar Al-Sharia and anti-Muslim Brotherhood stand. It also has been subject to regular attacks – it is thought as a result.
This is not the first time Alaseema reporters have been kidnapped. Five were seized in August – two at the beginning of the month in Tripoli’s Martyrs Square while covering a protest there and three on 24 August when the station’s offices were attacked and the station temporarily forced off air. The home of the station’s director was also set on fire at the same time. Libya Dawn forces were accused by Human Rights Watch of the attack.
The two reported seized in Martyrs Square were later released.
Earlier during the year, the station on Tripoli’s Gurji Road was hit by missiles.
Yesterday, six members of the same family were also kidnapped in Tripoli. However despite this, Libya Dawn has said that the capital is now safe. [/restrict]
