Clinton presses Libya to release detained American journalists

2011-04-22 04:48:02

WASHINGTON, April 21 (Xinhua) -- U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton on Thursday added up pressure on the Libyan government for the release of two detained American journalists.

The U.S. government called for the "immediate release" of Americans who are being "unjustly" detained by Libyan authorities, including "at least two reporters," she told reporters at a press conference here.

"I say 'at least' because we do not have any accurate information coming from Libyan authorities about other inquiries that we have made regarding their continuing harassment and detention of journalists including Americans," she explained.

The two detained reporters are James Foley, a correspondent from GlobalPost, and Clare Morgana Gillis, a journalist working for The Atlantic and USA Today. They were captured on April 5 while reporting near Brega, a key oil town in the eastern part of Libya. They have not been heard from since.

Previously, four New York Times journalists were captured in Libya while covering the conflict between government and opposition forces. The Libyan government freed them days later.

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