IA Contributing editor-at-large Tess Lawrence presents a tribute to courageous citizen journalist, Mohammed Nabbous, founder of first independent TV news channel Libya Alhurra, who was shot on Saturday night by a sniper.
Today the world is one human being down.
So what in the scheme of things. If nature isn’t killing us, we’re killing each other.
His name was Mohammed Nabbous, known to all as ‘ Mo.’ He was the founder of Libya’s citizen tv and radio channel, Libya AlHurra – Free Libya – in Benghazi.
At this stage we don’t know the full story. We understand that he was killed by a sniper’s bullet from a Gaddafi hitman on Saturday nght. In Gaddafi’s ideology, if you don’t like the message, you kill the messenger.
Gaddafi has widowed Mo’s beloved Perdita and deprived their unborn child of ever being cradled in the generous arms of his bald-headed Dad. A grief stricken Perdita went on air to implore everyone to continue Mo’s work.
For weeks Mo has been doing the best he can with what he’s got to as he and his colleagues risked life and limb to bring to the likes of our ABC and Al Jazeera and just about every corner in the world – including intelligence agencies – updates on what has been happening in his corner of Libya. Vale Citizen Mo. Your kind of journalism shames those of us who have long secreted our beliefs and our courage behind retirement packages and vested interests.
He was just 28 years old.
Join Mohammed Nabbous Facebook tribute page.
From the work of the late Mo Nabbous – courageous Libyan citizen journalist
(WARNING: disturbing images)
Link to what is said to be his last video
(If you would like to follow the happening of this terrible conflict, one of the best ways to do so is to follow Al Jazeera’s live blog, which you can access by clicking here.)









3 Comments
This hasn’t reached the mainstream media. I’m doing a media degree about citizen journalism & so forth in my third year. Nice to see some people covering stories like this without any editorial changes on a mass level like all mainstream media does. Nice work guys. Considering this a source to get regular news updates as its more reliable.
Good on you Dave and thanks. One of the themes of this publication is publishing important stories you won’t find in the mainstream press. We hope you keep coming back. Just FYI, we have a gripping story coming up today on Iman al-Obeidi the poor Libyan lady raped by pro-Gaddafi militia now feared dead after coming to the western press at a press conference.
VALE MARIE COLVIN AND REMI OCHLIK and all those without bylines murdered by the Syrian Government in Homs and elsewhere. American born Sunday Times war correspondent Marie Colvin lost her left eye covering the Sri Lankan War in 2001. Overcoming PTSD, she went back to the bloody frontlines to embed herself amongst civilians rather than the bunkers of spin and propaganda.
Here’s a fine compilation from the BBC World Service: –
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17124786