afrol News, 31 March - A Libyan cyber-dissident reportedly has been arrested in the eastern town of Tobruk after criticising the national government on a UK-based website. The arrest allegedly took place on 12 January this year, but has not been reported until today. There has been no word of him since his detention and his whereabouts are unknown.

According to information gathered by the Paris-based press freedom group Reporters sans Frontières (RSF), cyber-dissident Abdel Razak Al Mansouri was arrested on 12 January because of his critical comments on a British Internet site regarding the Libyan government. There still exists no freedom of expression in Libya, a country where no single independent media outlet has been allowed since Colonel Muammar Ghaddafi's 1969 revolution.

Mr Al Mansouri's arrest has not been confirmed by Libyan authorities. It reportedly took place on the evening of 12 January in the coastal city of Tobruk, which lies close to the Egyptian border. He is believed to have been transferred to a prison in the capital, Tripoli, two days later. His family has had no news of him since his arrest, according to RSF.

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 has developed Internet services quickly in the past five years. The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information estimates that the country now has about one million Internet users. It is however assumed that Libyan authorities are closely monitoring Internet traffic to and from the country.

RSF today in a statement called for the release of Mr Al Mansouri. "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," the group's statement said.

During the last two years, Libya has slowly opened up to the outside world. Libyan leader Ghaddafi last year even allowed a delegation of the human rights group Amnesty to enter the country and make recommendations on how to improve the rights situation. Increased investments in the tourism sector and closer cooperation with the European Union (EU) also had indicated a long-term commitment by Libyan authorities to improve the human rights situation.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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