Ten days after his disappearance, Neili’s family received a phone call from an individual claiming to belong to a group responsible for the kidnapping, and demanding a ransom of 500,000 Libyan dinars (US$367,840), Nizar Ibrahim, the co-founder and spokesperson the Libyan press freedom group, told CPJ.
The caller did not identify himself or the group he was with, Ibrahim, whose organization has spoken with the family, told CPJ. Four days later, the family received a second phone call, in which the ransom was reduced to 300,000 dinars, Ibrahim said.
Details of who abducted Neili and where he is being held are not known, Ibrahim said. Xinhuahas not reported on his disappearance and did not respond to requests for information from CPJ.
Kidnappings have become commonplace in Tripoli, as militias try to extract information from journalists and pressure them into avoiding coverage that may harm the militias’ ambitions amid fighting in the country, Ibrahim told CPJ.
The director of the Libyan Center for Press Freedom, Mahmoud al-Najm, was abducted and held for five hours by a militia in Tripoli on November 5, the group said. He has not publicized details of his abduction.
For several months, the UN has been working to broker an agreement between the internationally backed but ineffective Libyan government in the east of the country, and the government in Tripoli, which was installed by a militia known as Libya Dawn that took over the city in August 2014. Journalists and media outlets have been frequent targets of rival militias as they fight for political and territorial control throughout the country.
(Source: CPJ)
(Press image via Shutterstock)
