As Gadhafi digs in, Libya regime assaults journalists

As Muammar Gadhafi digs in to hold onto power in Libya, his regime has attacked some of the very foreign journalists it has invited to Tripoli. As my colleague at The Cutline Michael Calderone reports:

Gadhafi security forces beat members of a BBC news team and held mock executions during a harrowing 21-hour ordeal. The journalists from the BBC's Arabic language network were trying to reach the war-ravaged western city of Zawiya, roughly 30 miles from Tripoli. Correspondents Goktay Koraltan and Feras Killani described the kidnapping and having witnessed the torture of captured Libyans in a video below:

The New York Times reported that one of the network's correspondents concealed a cell phone and called the BBC. The British news organization then advocated for their release. The BBC, in its report, noted that "a senior Libyan government official later apologized for the BBC team's ordeal."

While the BBC team is now safe, a correspondent for The Guardian, a British newspaper, is now missing.

The Guardian reports that correspondent Ghaith Abdul-Ahad has gone missing after reporting in western Libya after last being seen on the outskirts of Zawiya.

Separately, a Brazilian journalist held for a week by Libyan security forces was reportedly released and in the care of the Brazilian ambassador Thursday, Agence-France Press reported.