Miami Photojournalist Released By Libyan Forces
TOBRUK, Libya (CBS4)- A South Florida photojournalist has been released by Libyan forces after he and two other journalists covering the turmoil in Libya were detained at gunpoint.
The journalist's driver said Miami's Getty Images photographer Joe Raedle, Agence France Presse photographer Roberto Schmidt, and reporter Dave Clark were en route to Libya's eastern region when they were abducted, according to CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald.
Tuesday evening, the Raedle's wife learned Ghadaffi had ordered the release of the men.
Raedle, 45, who is married to Miami Herald Interactive Editor Nancy San Martin, went missing on Friday evening along with Clark and Schmidt.
San Martin says Raedle told her by telephone that he was okay, and that he'd been released. He will return on the first flight he can catch.
Driver Mohammed Hamed told AFP that on Saturday morning he took the three journalists from Tobruk on the road to Ajdabiya, where Gaddafi loyalists were fighting eastern rebels.
He said a few dozen kilometers from Ajdabiya, they encountered a convoy of military jeeps and transport vehicles. They turned around, but were intercepted by the soldiers who caught up with them and forcibly arrested them, according to the Herald.
Four soldiers ordered the journalists out of their vehicle at gunpoint. Clark, an experienced foreign correspondent, identified themselves in Arabic as journalists, the driver said.
Other civilians and ambulances arrived on the scene and were controlled by soldiers who arrived in large numbers, Hamed said.
The soldiers then set fire to several vehicles, including the one used by the journalists, who were put into a military vehicle and driven away.
Clark and Schmidt had informed AFP editors in an email on Friday of their plans to head 35 kilometers out of Tobruk with Raedle, according to the Herald.
The journalists have not been heard from since sending the email on Friday night.
They planned on meeting opponents of Gaddafi's regime and speaking with refugees fleeing the battles between rebels and the loyalists
Raedle, who is a graduate of the University of Miami, is a former staff photographer for the Sun-Sentinel with years of experience covering war zones. San Martin said Raedle left Miami March 12 and arrived to the Middle East that Sunday.
One of the photographers with Raedle also has ties to South Florida. Schmidt, 45, is also graduated from the University of Miami.
Paris-based Clark has been in Libya since March 8 while Schmidt, who normally works out of the Nairobi bureau, arrived in Libya on Feb. 28, according to the Herald.
Since Libya's revolt began in February, there have been numerous attacks on the press, including two fatalities, detentions, assaults, equipment confiscation and the interruption of Internet service.
Four New York Times reporters, who were detained last week during the fighting between government and rebel forces, left the country safely on Monday after Turkey helped secure their release, the newspaper said.
(©2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald contributed material for this report)
