Reporters Without Borders Condemns Killing of Reporters in Libya

Media rights group Reporters Without Borders is condemning the killing of two photographers.  They were reporting from the war-torn city of Misrata, Libya.

The non-governmental organization said on Thursday the Libyan authorities were using attacks to prevent journalists from reporting on the conflict.

The journalists Chris Hondros and Tim Hetherington were killed. Two other photographers, Michael Brown and Guy Martin, were wounded during the attack. It was on the main road to Misrata, the scene of fierce fighting. 

[Jean-Francois Julliard, Director, Reporters Without Borders]:

"It's very clear that the Libyan authorities don't want journalists to work freely in the country, they don't want journalists to be in Libya to report independently on the situation. It's a way to eliminate independent voices, to eliminate journalists."

The group of American and British photojournalists were following rebels when they were attacked and caught in a rocket-propelled grenade attack.

[Jean-Francois Julliard, Director, Reporters Without Borders]:

"We have the feeling that it's becoming more and more dangerous, because we don't know who is who, who is firing, where it is safe to be a journalist and where it is not, so we are very worried about the situation."

The photographers' deaths brings to four the number of journalists killed in Libya since the beginning of the conflict in March. 

About 10 journalists are thought to have died in the region covering the Arab spring uprising this year.

[Jean-Francois Julliard, Director, Reporters Without Borders]: 

"We just ask international media to think twice about how to send a journalist now to Libya and who they are going to send in Libya, because one of the two photographers killed yesterday was very well-experienced, he was not a young journalist, he was a well-experienced journalist, he was used to very dangerous areas, and he was killed."

Hondros covered major conflicts, including Kosovo and Afghanistan, and received multiple awards during his career. Hetherington, a 40-year-old British-American reporter, was working in Libya for the US magazine Vanity Fair.

BBC and Channel 4 news joined other news organizations on Thursday saying they will remain in Libya despite the attacks.