Libya says it will release at least one New York Times journalist

[News_Editor]

Libya says it will release at least one New York Times journalist

2011-03-18 23:16:00 GMT+7 (ICT)

NEW YORK (BNO NEWS) -- The son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Saif, on Friday said that one of the four missing New York Times journalists will soon be released, while the newspaper itself reported that all four journalists would be released.

The four missing journalists were last in contact with their editors on Tuesday morning U.S. time as they witnessed the flight of rebels from the Libyan town of Ajdabiya. There were second-hand reports of New York Times journalists being swept up by advancing Libyan government forces, but in the disorder of the embattled eastern region this could not be confirmed, the paper said earlier.

On Friday, in an interview with ABC News, Saif Gaddafi mentioned one of the New York Times journalists. "She entered the city illegally but when they found out she was American they said it's OK. You're good people. We'll free you," Gaddafi told ABC's Christiane Amanpour, apparently referring to photographer Lynsey Addario.

Gaddafi added that the journalist would be released on Friday, but ignored questions about the other three missing reporters. The New York Times itself, however, said that Libyan government officials had told the U.S. State Department that all four would be released.

The Libyan government also allowed the detained journalists to call their families on Thursday evening, the paper reported on its website. "We're all, families and friends, overjoyed to know they are safe," said Bill Keller, the executive editor of The Times. "We are eager to have them free and back home."

The four missing journalists are Anthony Shadid, the Beirut bureau chief and twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize for foreign reporting; Stephen Farrell, a reporter and videographer who was kidnapped by the Taliban in 2009 and rescued by British commandos; and two photographers, Tyler Hicks and Lynsey Addario, who have worked extensively in the Middle East and Africa.

Libya is currently in a civil war that has so far claimed at least 1,000 lives and the Libyan government has previously compared Western journalists to al-Qaeda supporters.

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