US Government: Libya Says Will Treat Unauthorized Reporters As Al Qaeda

[maddezmom]

US Government: Libya Says Will Treat Unauthorized Reporters As Al Qaeda



BRUSSELS -(Dow Jones)- The Libyan government has told U.S. officials that it will treat reporters who aren't authorized to be in the country as al Qaeda collaborators, the U.S. State Department said in a statement Thursday.

The government of Moammar Gadhafi has lost control of large parts of the country in the face of a popular rebellion against the Libyan strongman.

In meetings with U.S. diplomats, Libyan officials say reporters from CNN, BBC Arabic and Al Arabiya are being allowed into the country to cover the situation, the State Department said.

"These same senior officials also said that some reporters had entered the country illegally and that the Libyan government now considered these reporters Al Qaida collaborators," the statement said.

more: http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=201102240953dowjonesdjonline000452&title=us-governmentlibya-says-will-treat-unauthorized-reporters-as-al-qaeda


Libya calls western journalists 'al-Qaida collaborators'

Journalists from the BBC, CNN and other international media in Libya are being considered "al-Qaida collaborators" by the country's government, the US state department said on Thursday.


Senior Libyan officials said journalists who had entered the country "illegally" would be considered terrorist sympathisers and "risked immediate arrest".


Reporters from the Guardian and ITV News are among dozens of journalists to have 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 Gaddafi'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.

more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/feb/24/libya-journalists-al-qaida

[bhikkhu]

1. Qadafi and Glenn Beck would get along just fine...n/t