By Houda Mzioudet,
Tripoli, 30 September 2013:
A journalist has been kidnapped and his brother murdered, it has been disclosed.
Taher Al-Turki who is . . .[restrict]editor of the Tripoli-based newspaper Rawasi, was kidnapped on Friday by an unknown group who shot dead his brother, according to Idris Mismari, head of the Board for Promotion and Support of Press.
Turki was on his way from Tripoli to his hometown Zintan with his wife, daughter and his brother when a group of armed men attacked them, Mismari told the Libya Herald.
“He got out of his car and tried to negotiate with them. There then followed an altercation between Turki and the armed group. They shot at his leg, and at his brother, who was killed instantly,” Mismari explained. The group took Turki off to an unknown location, he added.
His family was terrified and made contact with some family members to come and pick them up.
Reporters Without Borders, as well as other international organisations working on the support of freedom of press contacted Mesmari, expressing their strong condemnation of the abduction, describing it as “a serious attack on freedom of press”, considering it “dangerous and unacceptable”.
The Union of Libyan Journalists have also called for Turki’s release.
It is still unknown who was responsible for the kidnapping, Mismari said, stressing the concern of GNC, Libyan government and Turki’s colleagues about his safety.
“He is a good man and has never had any problem with anyone,” Mismari said.
It is not clear at present if Turki was seized because he is a journalist or a Zintani. According to Zintan media centre, there have been numerous attacks on people heading in and out of Zintan in recent days. Three days ago, it reported that an elderly woman and her daughter were killed by unknown assailants while heading in an ambulance to Tripoli.
[/restrict]
