Libya: Pimps and Snitches --- The Story That Brought the Expulsion of a British Journalist

Gunmen in Tripoli's Green SquareOn Saturday, Libyan authorities ordered Xan Rice, a reporter for The Guardian of London, out of the country. This was the article on Friday that apparently raised their anger:

Locals call them pimps or snitches. They wear plain clothes, drive unmarked cars and are as numerous as scorpions in the Libyan desert, only more dangerous. Loathed and feared in equal measure, they are the eyes and ears of Colonel Muammar Qaddafi, and a large part of the reason that Tripoli has not been able to join the revolt sweeping the country.

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Libya Special: The Story of Qaddafi's Son, A Football Team, and the Donkey (Rice)

It’s one thing for a football fan to call a player a donkey. But it’s another altogether to dress an ass in the footballer’s replica shirt. Especially when the player heads the national football federation and is the son of the country’s dictator, who in fury sentences three of the fans to death and razes the team’s stadium and clubhouse.

“Nowhere in the world could this happen,” said Khalid Agory, who writes for the website of Al-Ahly Benghazi, one of Libya‘s top football teams. “Except in Libya.”

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