In the "in their own words" link, I'd like to point out this especially surprising passage.  The reporters were Feras Killani, a Palestinian refugee with a Syrian passport; Goktay Koraltan, who is Turkish; and Chris Cobb-Smith, British.

"We were there about another 30 minutes and then a bad guy arrived. He had three stars on this shoulder, a captain."

Goktay: "He looked pissed off. He was a tall guy, aggressive as he came into the room."

Chris: "It was almost like good cop, bad cop. The good one left and then the other one stormed in."

Feras: "He asked a few questions in a very bad way, in Arabic. He was aggressive. I tried to explain we had only been in Zawiya a week before with the authorities.

"He said something bad about Palestinians, a lot of bad things, and he asked his team what they thought about Palestinians and they said the same things. He thought they had helped the Palestinians a lot, but Hamas has given a very bad reaction to Gaddafi. Lots of bad language.

"When I tried to respond he took me out to the car park behind the guard room. Then he started hitting me without saying anything. First with his fist, then boots, then knees. Then he found a plastic pipe on the ground and beat me with that. Then one of the soldiers gave him a long stick. I'm standing trying to protect myself, I'm trying to tell him we're working, I'm a Palestinian, I have a good impression of the country. He knew who we were [ie journalists] and what we were doing.

"I think there was something personal against me. They knew me and the sort of coverage I had been doing, especially from Tajoura the Friday before. I think they monitored the BBC and had an idea, not just the reports but also DTLs [interviews from the studio with a correspondent in the field]. They don't like us or Al-Arabiya or Al-Jazeera."

"He told me to return to the room and not to tell the other guys anything.

Feras mentions the prejudice against Palestinians again, later in the text.

Iraqi reporter/photog Ghaith Abdul-Ahad is missing in Libya, last head from near Zawiya.

If the name sounds only vaguely familiar, it might be because he was one of Salam Pax's friends written about on his "Where is Raed?" blog. It would be terrible to learn his past luck at surviving danger has run out:

Guardian correspondent missing in Libya
Ghaith Abdul-Ahad was last heard from on outskirts of Zawiya

Ian Black, Middle East editor, Guardian. co.uk, March 10, 2011

Urgent efforts are under way to establish the whereabouts of the Guardian correspondent Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, who has been reporting from western Libya for the past two weeks.

Abdul-Ahad entered the country from Tunisia and was last in touch with the paper through a third party on Sunday, when he was on the outskirts of Zawiya, a town west of the capital, Tripoli,which has seen fierce fighting in the past few days.

The Guardian has been in contact with Libyan government officials in Tripoli and London and asked them to urgently give all assistance in the search for Abdul-Ahad and to establish if he is in the custody of the authorities.

Abdul-Ahad, who is an Iraqi national, is a highly respected staff correspondent who has written for the Guardian since 2004. He has spent long periods in Somalia, Sudan, Iraq and Afghanistan, reporting on the stories of ordinary people and their suffering in times of conflict.....

Al Jazeera cameraman assassinated in Libya

Cameraman Ali Hassan Al Jaber was returning to eastern city of Benghazi from filing report when he was shot and killed.

Al Jazeera, March 12, 2011

Photo caption: Here and now, Libyan and Qatari blood is mixed for the sake of freedom. Our condolences go to the Qatari people and the Al Jazeera channel' read a banner held in Benghazi

.....'Cowardly crime'

Wadah Khanfar, the director-general of Al Jazeera, said the network "will not remain silent" and will pursue those behind the ambush through legal channels.

He said that the killing came after "an unprecedented campaign" against the network by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
ake of Al Jaber's killing

"Al Jazeera condemns the cowardly crime, which comes as part of the Libyan regime's malicious campaign targeting Al Jazeera and its staff," the network said in a statement.....

Incredible video of spontaneous mass demonstration in support of Al Jazeera on realizing the news--warning, it's a tearjerker:

Libyan crowd mourns Al Jazeera camerama

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JG0cr0nACg&feature=player_embedded

Also ses:

Al-Jazeera cameraman chased and shot dead by Gaddafi regime supporters
Arabic station says cameraman was shot dead in ambush near Benghazi after reporting on Libya protests

By Matt Wells in Doha, Qatar, Guardian.co.uk, March 14

Arabic station says cameraman was shot dead in ambush near Benghazi after reporting on Libya protests
An al-Jazeera cameraman who died in eastern Libya was hunted down and ambushed by forces loyal to the Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, according to sources at the broadcaster.

Ali Hassan al-Jaber was among a team from the network's Arabic station attacked as they returned to the rebel-held city of Benghazi on Saturday.

In an official statement, al-Jazeera said the group were ambushed, and it condemned "the cowardly crime, which comes as part of the Libyan regime's malicious campaign targeting al-Jazeera and its staff".

It said the group had been returning from a nearby town after reporting on an opposition protest. Sources at al-Jazeera told the Guardian that Gaddafi loyalists followed the journalists from the protest scene and sprayed their vehicle with bullets. Al-Jazeera discounted earlier reports that they were lured to an interview under false pretences.

Jaber, a Qatari national, was rushed to hospital but died from his injuries. Another al-Jazeera journalist was wounded.

Gaddafi has blamed al-Jazeera, which has won plaudits for its reporting of the Middle East and north African uprisings, for the bloodshed in Libya.....