AFP's photographer in the Libyan city of Benghazi, Abdullah Doma, has been arrested at his home by the security services of eastern Libya, his family said Wednesday.
Security services raided Doma's home overnight and told the family he was to be questioned over his photo coverage for AFP of an Earth Hour event.
Two organisers of Saturday night's event at Benghazi university, where young men and women gathered for a concert, were detained at the same time as Doma but released on Wednesday.
Awqaf religious authorities linked to the authorities in the east had condemned the marking of Earth Hour in Benghazi as "offensive" to Islam because it went against the segregation of the sexes.
AFP management expressed concern over Doma's arrest and called on authorities in Benghazi to release the photographer immediately and without charge.
"Abdullah is being held by the general investigations service," his brother Marwan said, adding that he had been unable to see him.
The security services "told me Abdullah had not been questioned yet and asked me to return at sunset", he said.
Contacted by AFP, sources with the Libyan National Army of Khalifa Haftar, which controls eastern Libya, said the military was not involved in the arrest.
Millions of people from a record 187 countries and territories took part this year in the annual bid to highlight global warming, according to the conservation group WWF.
Benghazi is controlled by Haftar's military authorities which contest the legitimacy of Libya's UN-backed Government of National Accord which is based in the capital Tripoli.
China holds military drills near restive Myanmar border
China's army held drills near its border with Myanmar on Tuesday, state media reported, in a show of strength from Beijing following weeks of clashes between ethnic rebels and Myanmar's military.
Tens of thousands of people have fled to China in recent months to escape the battles in Myanmar's restive borderlands.
The bloodshed has threatened to derail a push by de facto leader Aung San … read more
