A group of Libyan journalists arrested as part of an apparent power struggle inside the ruling elite have been released on the instructions of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, their employer said on Tuesday. The arrested journalists work for a media group founded by Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, a reform-minded son of the Libyan leader who is seen as a possible successor to his father but has been waging a turf war against powerful conservatives.
Libya Press news agency, part of Saif al-Islam's Al Ghad media group, issued a statement saying the arrested reporters had been released. It had said on Monday the internal security agency had detained 20 of its journalists. "Libya Press contacted all its released journalists and contributors and congratulated them," the agency said in a statement posted on its Internet site.
"(Libya Press) hopes that an instruction by leader Muammar Gaddafi to open an investigation into the case of their detention will be implemented," it said. Libya's official Jana news agency, in its first mention of the arrests, said Muammar Gaddafi, who has led oil exporter Libya for more than 40 years, had intervened on the journalists' behalf. "The Libyan news agency learned last night that the Leader of the Revolution had issued instructions to release the journalists belonging to Libya Press and ordered an investigation into the matter," it said.