More Newspapers Doesn’t Always Mean More Freedom in Post-Gadhafi Libya

WASHINGTON - Reda Fhelboom phoned his wife as soon as he landed at Mitiga International Airport in Libya’s capital, Tripoli, telling her that his nephew would pick him up.

The freelance journalist was returning from an overseas trip. But when he arrived, it was an armed militia, not Fhelboom’s nephew, who was there to greet him. "For five days, I was forced to disappear without telling my family," Fhelboom told VOA by phone, as he recalled the December 2019 abduction. Fhelboom was taken by the powerful Al-Buni militia which, in effect, ran the country’s intelligence. In a case that made international headlines, the 48-year-old was held for 12 days and subjected to what he described as "inhumane" conditions that made him contemplate taking his own life.