On 31 July, a military court in Ajdabiya sentenced Ismail Bouzreeba al-Zway, a local photojournalist, to 15 years in prison on ‘vague terrorism charges’. Zway, who had privately expressed discontent with Libyan National Army (LNA) leader Khalifa Haftar’s rule, had been accused of working for al-Nabaa, a privately-owned Libyan news channel broadcast from Turkey that eastern Libyan authorities consider to be affiliated with Islamist ‘terrorism.’ The sentencing prompted an outcry among human rights groups, who called it ‘the exploitation of the fight against terrorism…to muzzle voices and confiscate rights and freedoms.’ The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said that Zway’s detention ‘appeared to violate Libya’s laws as well as its international obligations’ and called for his immediate release.
