A Libyan press freedoms group said on Tuesday the arrest of a journalist at a Tripoli airport over the weekend amounted to “forced disappearance”, while the UN called for him to be released or put on trial.

The Ministry of Interior denies having connection with the disappearance of the journalist “Ridha Fheel Al-Boom”, disclosing that Fheel Al-Boom is at the Libyan intelligence service custody.

UNSMIL yesterday expressed its concerns over the enforced disappearance of human rights defender and journalist Reda Fhelboom. It called for his immediate release.

Facebook has said it suspended three networks of Russian accounts for attempting to interfere in the domestic politics of eight African countries.

A former Russian journalist may be among dozens of Russian mercenaries believed to have died while fighting in Libya, the Moscow Times reported on Monday.

Scores of deaths and injuries from Khalifa Haftar’s forces – 9th Brigade – were documented by social media footage after heavy clashes in southern Tripoli between Haftar’s forces and Libyan Army forces under the command of the Presidential Council’s government.

Clashes between Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar and the UN-backed government early April 2019 in Tripoli, have exacerbated divisions in the country. This has also impacted journalism and reporting, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Political Affairs in Libya Stephanie Williams has expressed the hope that media would play a role in building peace in Libya, the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said Thursday.

International NGO, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), yesteday called on the Libyan Interim Government based in Eastern Libya, to explain the order it has issued to municipal authorities not to cooperate with 11 TV channels. This ban must be lifted in order to respect the public’s right to information, RSF said.

Security forces of Libya’s internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) reportedly arrested two Russian men in Tripoli in May, though the arrests were not announced until early July. Tripoli authorities claim that the Russians possessed laptops and memory sticks that revealed their work in a Russian “troll factory” that allegedly sought …