Two British journalists from Press TV, Iran’s English-language broadcaster, were released in Libya on March 18.
AFP reports that Libyan authorities told a press conference in Tripoli: “The two journalists were released after it was established that they had committed no crimes.”
Human Rights Watch was told that the journalists were arrested because they were driving at night and taking photographs. Militiamen considered their actions suspicious, and their leader Faraj Swehli reportedly claimed that the journalists did not have proper immigration papers.
On February 22, Press TV journalists Nicholas Davies and Gareth Montgomery-Johnson were arrested along with two locals by Libya’s Saraya Swehli militia.
Amnesty International had protested the arrest of the journalists and their local colleagues and called for their immediate release.
The rights group had said that detaining these journalists was “unlawful and unfounded.”
The release of the journalists came after weeks of negotiations between the militia and Libya’s National Transitional Council, as well as pressure from human rights groups.
