(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called for the release of cyber-dissident Abdel Razak Al Mansouri, whose arrest on 12 January 2005 has just been reported. He criticised the Libyan government on a United Kingdom (UK)-based website. There has been no word of him since his detention. “The authorities already control all the traditional media and now […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has called for the release of cyber-dissident Abdel Razak Al Mansouri, whose arrest on 12 January 2005 has just been reported. He criticised the Libyan government on a United Kingdom (UK)-based website. There has been no word of him since his detention.
“The authorities already control all the traditional media and now they are trying to gag the Internet, the last window on the outside world still accessible to Libyan citizens. This is a major blow for human rights activists who have found the Internet to be an effective tool for gathering and disseminating information,” RSF said.
Al Mansouri’s arrest has not been confirmed by the authorities. It reportedly took place on the evening of 12 January in the eastern city of Tobruk. He is believed to have been transferred to a prison in Tripoli two days later. His family has had no news of him since his arrest.
Al Mansouri began posting articles on the UK-based website http://www.akhbar-libya.com in 2004. A 52-year-old bookseller, he wrote about social issues and criticised human rights violations by the Libyan authorities.
Libya, which is ranked 154th in RSF’s classification of 167 countries according to their respect for press freedom, has developed Internet services quickly in the past five years. The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (http://www.hrinfo.net) estimates that the country now has about one million Internet users.
