Libyan leader Col
Muammar Gaddafi's
security forces
detained and beat up a
BBC news team who
were trying to reach
the strife-torn western
city of Zawiya.
The three were beaten
with fists, knees and rifles,
hooded and subjected to
mock executions by
members of Libya's army
and secret police.
The men were detained
on Monday and held for
21 hours, but have now
flown out of Libya.
Government forces are in
a fierce fight to wrest
Zawiya from rebel
control.
Artillery and tanks have
pounded the city - which
lies 50km (30 miles) from
the capital Tripoli - over
the last four days.
The BBC team showed
their identification when
they were detained at an
army roadblock on
Monday.
They had been seeking,
like many journalists, to
get around government
restrictions by reaching
besieged Zawiya.
The three of them were
taken to a huge military
barracks in Tripoli, where
they were blindfolded,
handcuffed and beaten.
One of the three, Chris
Cobb-Smith, said: "We
were lined up against the
wall. I was the last in line -
facing the wall.
"I looked and I saw a
plain-clothes guy with a
small sub-machine gun.
He put it to everyone's
neck. I saw him and he
screamed at me.
"Then he walked up to
me, put the gun to my
neck and pulled the trigger
twice. The bullets whisked
past my ear. The soldiers
just laughed."
A second member of the
team - Feras Killani, a
correspondent of
Palestinian descent - is
said to have been singled
out for repeated beatings.
Their captors told him
they did not like his
reporting of the Libyan
popular uprising and
accused him of being a
spy.
The third member of the
team, cameraman Goktay
Koraltan, said they were
all convinced they were
going to die.
During their detention, the
BBC team saw evidence of
torture against Libyan
detainees, many of whom
were from Zawiya.
A senior Libyan
government official later
apologised for the BBC
team's ordeal.
But the BBC said in a
statement that it "strongly
condemns this abusive
treatment".
"The safety of our staff is
our primary concern
especially when they are
working in such difficult
circumstances and it is
essential that journalists
working for the BBC, or
any media organisation,
are allowed to report on
the situation in Libya
without fear of attack,"
said the statement from
Liliane Landor, languages
controller of BBC Global
News.
Rebel bounty
Government forces have
been mounting a strong
fightback against the
rebels who rose up in
mid-February to end Col
Gaddafi's 41 years in
power.
The main square of
Zawiya reportedly
changed hands twice on
Wednesday in the fighting
between pro-Gaddafi
forces and the insurgents.
State TV reported that the
army had retaken Zawiya,
and showed pictures of
what it said were
residents staging a pro-
Gaddafi rally.
On the eastern front
around the Mediterranean
oil port of Ras Lanuf,
rebels retreated in the face
of heavy government
shelling and ongoing air
strikes, amid reports that
oil facilities were blown
up.
Col Gaddafi also launched
a diplomatic offensive,
dispatching envoys
overseas on the eve of a
summit by Nato defence
ministers in Brussels.
High-ranking members of
the Libyan leader's inner
circle were sent to Cairo,
Brussels, Lisbon and Malta
to approach government
officials.
The Libyan government
meanwhile offered a
reward for the capture of
rebel leader Mustafa Abdel
Jalil, the ex-justice
minister.
The amount was 500,000
Libyan dinars ($400,000;
£250,000).

could you please edit this and put it in a readable format?

Go tell that to the bbc, u tink u're listening to NTA?

I see you lack literacy in computing. Just put it in a text editor and take out the html tags then paste back.

Mr, Your name suggests that u should pitch ur tent at the computer sections, dont even know who let u in here. ITK!