Tripoli, Libya David E. Miller – Libyan authorities have detained at least 20 journalists belonging to the Libya Press news agency in Tripoli and Benghazi, in an unusual move apparently aimed at Saif Al-Islam Qaddafi, the son of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi.
The arrests mark a second assault against the media empire built by Saif Al-Islam to help him shake up Libya’s government and society. Last week, the government shut down the print edition of Oea, a weekly critical of the government and also owned by Saif Al-Islam’s Al-Ghad Media Group. The Internet site remains active.
Analysts view the crackdown as part of a political struggle between conservatives and progressives in Libya’s ruling elite. Observers believe Saif Al-Islam, who holds a doctorate from the London School of Economics and leads the progressive camp, is being groomed to inherit his father’s position.
“The latest move reflects a battle between the old guard and reformers in Libya,” Rory Fyfe, an expert on Libya for the Economist Intelligence Unit, told The Media Line.
Among those arrested in the Libya Press crackdown was Fawzi Baltmar, a deputy managing director of Al-Ghad, the news agency’s office in London said. The National Organization of Libyan Youth, a major shareholder in the Al-Ghad group, condemned the journalists’ arrest in a statement issued Sunday.
“These arrests violate all treaties pertaining to the promotion of freedoms in Libya,” the statement read. “The banning of Oea for no given reason runs counter to all morals and principles in a free Libya, where there is no room for excluding the other or silencing free voices based on personal interests.”
The Libyan government cracked down before on Oea and Quryana, Libya’s first two privately owned publications, launched by Saif Al-Islam in August 2007. In January, publication of the print version of the newspapers was temporarily halted by Libya’s General Press Authority on the grounds that some of their bills had not been paid, according to Reporters Without Borders, a press-freedom watchdog.
In a further limiting of press freedoms, Libyan authorities have recently created a new entity called “the press deputy,” who is charged with monitoring journalists investigating cases of corruption. Libya was ranked 160th out of 173 countries in the latest Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.
Fyfe of the Economist Intelligence Unit said the liberal camp in Libya included Saif Al-Islam Qaddafi and Shukri Ghanem, a former prime minister and chairman of the National Oil Corp. Conservatives include the current prime minister, Baghdadi Mahmudi, who is believed to be behind the newspaper banning.
Six months ago, Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi nominated Saif Al-Islam for the position of leader of the Popular Social Command, which would place him as No. 2 in the Libyan political hierarchy. However, the move was blocked by political conservatives in the government, including the prime minister, Fyfe said.
Saif Al-Islam has personally been very critical of the regime his father created and leads with an iron hand, saying in September “there is no state in Libya.”
Muammar Qaddafi, who has maintained power in the North African country for over 40 years, has managed both sides against each other in an attempt to enhance his power, Fyfe added.
Libya has gradually restored relations with the West after forgoing its nuclear program and paying compensation to victims of Pan Am flight 103, which a Libyan terrorist bombed over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in December 1988. “It’s been five years since Libya made pro-market reforms and half-heartedly gave up its revolutionary ideals,” Fyfe said.
Lisa Anderson, provost of the American University in Cairo and an expert on Libya, said Saif Al-Islam has so far cleverly managed to maneuver Libya’s rugged political landscape.
“Saif Al-Islam has managed to outflank conservatives by saying he is closer to the original revolutionary principles of his father than members of the old guard, who are too bureaucratic,” she told The Media Line. “He talks about democracy the way his father did 30 years ago.”
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