“Libyan leaders have been unable or complicit in protecting independent media and bringing perpetrators of crimes against journalists to justice, over recent years.” This is what international and local human rights organizations have monitored regarding the enforced disappearance of journalists, activists, and even politicians that Libya is witnessing, and the examples are many.
Not all journalists across the country can do their work without fears of violence, censorship, or the threat of prosecution, based on false allegations and accusations.
In addition to this, the obstacles faced by foreign journalists when performing their work inside Libya, and the accompanying impunity for crimes committed against local and foreign journalists.
Libyan and international observers agree that Libya is still a difficult place to work in for activists, media professionals and journalists who are still subject to campaigns of intimidation and violence, least of all societal bullying, with attacks on their homes, families and personal safety, and are subjected to judicial and arbitrary prosecutions because of the work they do.
The latest attacks on freedom of opinion are what many youth cultural associations have been subjected to, especially for example, but not limited to, the closure of the Tarout House for Culture and Arts in Benghazi and the restrictions on the Tanweer movement in Tripoli and the termination of its activities, in addition to the restrictions on TV correspondents.
The conflict has always exacerbated the threats to media freedom in Libya, where journalists work in a dangerous environment that threatens their lives, but this intrusion, aggression and restriction continued until the present time, when the armed conflict ended, was supposed to turn into a peaceful conflict in which freedoms of opinion and speech prevail.
Libya has been placed in recent years in the 100 and above ranks on the global index of press freedom, in the absence of the commitment of successive governments to protect journalists and activists. Rather, these governments have been unable even to protect politicians and state employees with the growing phenomenon of impunity and the almost complete absence of the implementation of judicial rulings.
