Media freedom group warns reporting in Libya "virtually impossible"

Feb 23, 2011, 18:00 GMT

Paris - Reporting in Libya, where a pro-democracy uprising is being brutally suppressed, has become 'virtually impossible,' a media freedom group warned Wednesday.

Even before the current crackdown on protesters in Libya it was difficult to report in Libya, Reporters without Borders noted.

'It is now virtually impossible for a journalist to work,' the Paris-based group said.

The few foreign journalists who were already in Libya before the uprising began were under heavy surveillance and regional broadcasters, including Al Jazeera, have had their signals jammed.

The conditions have prevented all but a trickle of information reaching the outside world.

In the past 48 hours several foreign reporters have managed to smuggle into the country through Egypt, but the conditions are extremely difficult and hazardous.

The country's deputy foreign minister, Khaled Khaim, on Wednesday said journalists who entered Libya illegally would be considered 'outlaws' and 'as if they are collaborating with al-Qaeda.'

Meanwhile, in Yemen, several journalists have been attacked, arrested or had their equipment seized while covering protests, the media group said.

A correspondent for Swiss Info, part of the Swiss public broadcaster SBC, and a cameraman for Al Arabiya channel had reportedly both been treated in hospital for injuries suffered while covering the protests in Sana'a.

Read more about Libya Unrest

Read more about Media