A TEAM OF journalists from the BBC have been held in Libya for 21 hours, where they were handcuffed, beaten, hooded and subjected to mock executions.
The BBC reports that the three men were on their way to the western city of Zawiya, which government forces are trying to wrest back from rebel control, when they were arrested at a checkpoint.
One of the three, Chris Cobb-Smith, said they were lined up against a wall.
I was the last in line – facing the wall. I looked and I saw a plain-clothes guy with a small sub-machine gun. He put it to everyone’s neck. I saw him and he screamed at me. Then he walked up to me, put the gun to my neck and pulled the trigger twice. The bullets whisked past my ear. The soldiers just laughed.
The organisation issued a statement strongly condemning the attacks:
The safety of our staff is our primary concern especially when they are working in such difficult circumstances and it is essential that journalists working for the BBC, or any media organisation, are allowed to report on the situation in Libya without fear of attack. Despite these attacks, the BBC will continue to cover the evolving story in Libya for our audiences both inside and outside the country.
The British Foreign Office also hit out at the treatment of the journalists. A senior Libyan government official later apologised.
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