Kurdistan24 team freed in Libya after 30 hours of captivity

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – Kurdistan24 confirmed on Saturday its journalist Hunar Ahmed as well as cameramen Ahmed Dilshad and Blind Ali who went missing in Libya were found.

Kurdistan24 remained in close contact with the Iraqi Foreign Ministry and Libyan Embassy in Baghdad to get information on the network’s crew in Libya, who had lost connection with the headquarters in the past 24 hours.

Journalist Ahmed contacted the network’s headquarters at 4:30 p.m. Erbil time.

Kurdistan24 learned the team was arrested by a militia group and held in captivity for over 30 hours.

The crew traveled to Libya to create another documentary series for the “Reporter without Border” program, which is about the current conflict in the country.

It is the fourth installment of the program after the first segment was created in Syria’s Aleppo, the second in Iraq’s Tikrit, and the third one in Batnaya town, southeastern Mosul in northern Iraq.

Libya has been involved in a civil war since May 2014 between the democratically elected government, known as the Tobruk government, and the rival Islamist government of the General National Congress (GNC).

The conflict began after the GNC rejected the 2014 elections which the Tobruk government won.

The GNC, led by the Muslim Brotherhood, is thought to have links to other smaller Islamist groups in the country including the Islamic State (IS).

There were alleged reports earlier the crew had been kidnapped by a militant group in the country, but the motive remained unclear.

Kurdistan24 continued to stay in contact with the Foreign Ministry of Iraq and Libyan Embassy in Baghdad to gather more information and the possible location of the team.

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany