Al-Nabaa News Channel has condemned the prevention of its correspondents from covering the visit of the UN-imposed government to Zliten.

In a statement on Sunday, Al-Nabaa refuted accusation of being biased in its reporting on Sirraj visit to Misrata and Zliten, clarifying that the news of besieging Sirraj delegation in Zliten was based on a declaration from a member of Zliten Municipality.

The Tripoli-based channel underlined that it had reported the refutation of the Zliten Municipality about the incident in the same live coverage on the visit.

“Regarding the news about the shootings that targeted Sirraj’s motorcade in Al-Dafineya area, the channel reported the news from one of the channels as there was a phone call with the Presidency Council member in Sirraj government, Mousa Al-Kouni and reffered to the channel’s name in the context of news. This was obligatory for the channel due to the bias and lack of transparency by the officials as they refused to cooperate with Alnabaa.” The statement reads.

Al-Nabaa also stressed that it contacted Misrata Municipality to obtain a permit to cover Sirraj’s visit, yet it tried the next morning after the visit to get some details from the Municipality, as it could not cover it at the time; however, the channel was surprised by the rejection of the Municipality.

“The channel’s duty is to report news once all of their items are complete and it is trying to do what is best to fulfill this duty, besides, the channel is dealing with news by the professional work ethics and it does not get affected by isolation attempts, on the contrary, it becomes more determined to reach news wherever they are regardless of distortion and defaming campaigns by some figures.” The statement elaborates.

On Friday, Abdul-Salam Ashor, Zliten Municipality member, declared Sirraj as persona non grata and confirmed that protesters were besieging his delegation in a live contact with Alnabaa.

Ashor's telephone contact angered Sirraj government supporters in Zliten and Misrata who accused Alnabaa of being biased. Gunmen also ransacked the channel's office in Misrata in protest. Shortly after his call, Ashor was kidnapped by masked gunmen.

On Saturday, Alnabaa's fellow channel Tanasuh denounced the smear campaigns against it, saying they are full of lies.

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