A/HRC/17/44 clothes.” One man grabbed her breasts and another punched her in the face. Others explained that they were repeatedly beaten with punch, rifle butts and continuously told they were going to die. They were transported into a vehicle, which stopped repeatedly at checkpoints, each time allowing for a new group of soldiers to land a fresh punch or a rifle butt in their backs.108 142. A three-person BBC news team was detained on 7 March at an army roadblock and taken to a military barrack in Tripoli. They reported that they were blindfolded, beaten with fists, knees and rifles, hooded and subjected to mock executions by members of the Libyan army and secret police. One of the three, Chris Cobb Smith was quoted saying that the situation inside the detention centre was horrendous, with people being handcuffed with swelling hands and broken ribs. He stated that at one point a guy in plainclothes with a small sub-machine gun, walked up to him, putting his gun next to his neck and pulling the trigger twice. The bullet whisked past his ear. The soldier just laughed. The second member of the team, Feras Killani, a correspondent of Palestinian descent, was particularly singled out for repeated beatings and was accused of being a spy. At some point, they were all convinced they were going to die.109 143. There have also been a significant number of disappearances of journalists reported. The Commission drew the attention of the Government of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya to the cases of at least 18 journalists and other media professionals, including both Libyans and foreigners, who went missing in Libya and whose whereabouts remains unknown. The Commission wrote to the Libyan authorities on 26 April and 5 May, registering concerns with regards to the cases of 18 missing journalists and requested thorough investigations of these cases. Among the cases referred by the Commission to Libyan authorities were six Libyan journalists, who have been missing since February. On 19 May 2011, the Commission, in a letter to the Libyan authorities, welcomed the release of four journalists110 and urged them to look into the cases of the remaining detained journalists with a view to releasing them. The Commission also renewed its appeal for the release on humanitarian grounds of the two detained journalists Lotfi Ghars and Mohamed Ali Abdelrahman, with whom the Commission met during the visit to Al-Jdaydah detention centre in Tripoli. The Commission received guarantees by the Libyan authorities, who vowed to investigate the cases of missing journalists and assured the Commission that they would be released before June 2011. On 25 May 2011, the Libyan authorities informed the Commission through a letter that Mr. Ghars had been released, but that Mr. Abdelrahman remained in detention awaiting trial on charges including the dissemination of incorrect information. The Commission has been disturbed by reports of the killing of one of the journalists that the Commission inquired about, Anton Hammerl, who had been killed on 5 April at the outskirts of Al-Brega (see paragraph 140 above). 4. Conclusion 144. During its investigations, the Commission has established that Government forces were responsible for attacks on journalists and other media professionals, designed primarily to stifle coverage of the Government response to the demonstrations, the ongoing armed conflict and/or to retaliate for perceived or feared criticisms of the regime. Media professionals have been subject to arbitrary arrest, torture, ill-treatment, harassment, intimidation, enforced disappearances and in some cases have been the object of targeted 108 109 110 40 Ibid. BBC News, “Gaddafi forces detain and beat BBC Arabic team”, 10 March 2011, available from www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12695077. Manuel Varela de Seijas (Spanish), James Foley (American), Clare Morgana Gillis (American) and Nigel Chandler (British) were all released on 18 May by the Libyan authorities.