Libya threatens to treat western journalists as 'outlaws'

Journalists from the BBC, CNN and other western media who have entered Libya will be "considered outlaws", the country's deputy foreign minister warned on Wednesday. Khalid Kayem said that the influx of reporters who have streamed across Libya's border with Egypt in the past 24 hours are there "illegally and will be considered outlaws", according to the news agency AFP. Journalists from across the world have been entering Libya through its eastern border with Egypt over the past day, as Muammar Gaddafi loses his grip on that part of the country. Reporters from US broadcasters CNN and NPR also crossed Libya's border with Egypt late on Tuesday. Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, an NPR reporter, described Libyans in the east as "very excited to see western journalists".
However, the Libyan capital, Tripoli, remains inaccessible for foreign journalists as government militiamen clamp down on dissenters.