Simonyan on Ruptly Stringer's Killing: 'Democratization' Brought Only War, Chaos to Libya

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st January, 2019) External attempts to "democratize" Libya were meant to have turned the country into an "oasis of freedom and justice," but in reality brought only "war and chaos," RT and Sputnik's editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan said on Monday in the wake of the killing of Mohamed Ben Khalifa, an acclaimed photographer who worked with RT's video agency Ruptly and the Associated Press, in Tripoli.

Ben Khalifa was killed on Saturday during shelling in Tripoli while covering violent clashes between local armed groups that erupted in the Libyan capital last week. According to the Libyan Health Ministry, at least 13 people were killed and 52 others were injured in these clashes. The photojournalist, 35, is survived by his wife and six-month-old daughter.

"Let me recall that the democratization of Libya was launched eight years ago, being surrounded by promises to turn it into an oasis of freedom and justice. However, for all the eight years, Libya has seen nothing but war and chaos, and is remembered only when such tragedies happen," Simonyan wrote on Telegram.

Following Ben Khalifa's killing, his colleagues organized two rallies in Tripoli and Benghazi on Sunday. They had their mouths symbolically taped shut and held photos of Ben Khalifa as well as placards with slogans written in Arabic and English reading "Journalism is not a crime," "Stand for press freedom," "Libya without media," and others.