A Dumaguete native working for the Los Angeles Times is covering the crisis unfolding in Libya.
Luis Sinco, a Trustee of Foundation University, is in Benghazi, documenting the crisis in photographs.{{more}}
Sinco is reporting from a rebel-controlled area because his newspaper wants to get two sides of the conflict. Another news team from the LA Times is in the government-controlled territory.
A report by Bryan Chan posted in the LA Times says those who want to report from government-controlled territory must join official tours, and are prevented from straying off on their own.
On the other hand, journalists who cover the rebel-controlled areas have to cross the border illegally because the government said it will arrest any journalist not registered with the government.
Sinco was quoted in the article as saying that this lack of freedom of movement is frustrating. Sinco said he will be in Benghazi for the next several days as there are many stories to photograph there.
Chan wrote that on Tuesday, Sinco and staff writer Raja Abdulrahim drove around Benghazi, stopping at a farm that belonged to Moammar Kadafi. They came upon a funeral for a man who was shot during another funeral procession; they explored a sprawling secret police complex that had been captured by rebels and the courthouse that was serving as a recruiting center for the rebels.
At the police complex jail, he said he was shown a bunker that resembled a medieval dungeon with uneven stones and huge rooms with little windows at the top.
Sinco said it was unnerving to be in a place where people had been tortured, and probably died.
Even though he is free to wander rebel-held areas, he knows the story is í¢â‚¬Å“way down the roadí¢â‚¬ in Tripoli, where the fighting is. Sinco said there is a feeling of impatience among the journalists, the residents and the fighters to í¢â‚¬Å“get this thing over and done with,í¢â‚¬ the article said.
