Four media organizations have condemned the detention of journalist and blogger Saleh Al-Zarwali in the military police prison in Benghazi, on charges related to writing posts on Facebook, since mid-May 2024.
In a joint statement, the organizations denounced the repeated use of military courts by the authorities in the east of the country in cases of opinion, expression and publication to prosecute those they believe are their opponents.
The organizations that have signed the statement are: Aswat Media Network, the Libyan Foundation for Investigative Journalism, Jadeed Sports Media Organization, and the Libyan Organization for Independent Media.
They added that Al-Zarwali "was detained while driving his car in the center of Ajdabiya with his nine-year-old son," noting that a civilian car belonging to a security agency stopped the journalist and masked men got out of it, beat him and threw him to the ground, along with his son, whom they left in the street, while they took his father to the headquarters of the security agency in Ajdabiya and then to Benghazi.
The organizations added that the military prosecution charged the journalist with writing posts on his personal Facebook page against the "army" and promoting terrorist groups. They said that what the authorities in the east of the country did violated the constitutional declaration and international conventions related to freedom of the press, noting that trying citizens before military courts in press cases is a violation of Libya's international obligations to protect freedom of opinion and expression, calling for his release.