What he did in the period just before the attack has remained unclear. But Mr. Abu Khattala told other Libyans in private conversations during the night of the attack that he was moved to attack the diplomatic mission to take revenge for an insult to Islam in an American-made online video. Continue reading the main story
An earlier demonstration venting anger over the video outside the American Embassy in Cairo had culminated in a breach of its walls, and it dominated Arab news coverage. Mr. Abu Khattala told both fellow Islamist fighters and others that the attack in Benghazi was retaliation for the same insulting video, according to people who heard him.
“Suliman Ali Zway contributed reporting from Tripoli, Libya.”
‘A-team fixers’, whom within months catapulted from construction/materials contractors to rebel fighters, then onto foreign journalists’ “most trusting ears and eyes” award winners.
https://rorypecktrust.org/rpt-live/November-2011/Libyan-Fixers-to-Receive-2011-Martin-Adler-Prize
Friday, 11 November 2011
Written by Rory Peck Trust
Suliman Ali Zway and Osama Alfitory, known to international journalists as the ‘A Team’ worked with many of the world’s biggest news organisations to deliver accurate and ground breaking stories from Libya
The Rory Peck Trust today announced that Libyan fixers Suliman Ali Zway and Osama Alfitory will be the recipients of this year’s Martin Adler Prize. Now in its fifth year, the prize recognises the dedication and bravery of local freelancers who have played a significant role in the reporting of a major news story. Suliman and Osama will be presented with the prize at the Rory Peck Awards ceremony on Wednesday 16 November at London’s BFI Southbank, hosted by BBC’s Mishal Husain and Channel 4’s Alex Thomson.
Known by international journalists as the “A Team”, Suliman Ali Zway and Osama Alfitory, found themselves in every corner of the country during Libya’s revolution, helping journalists deliver accurate and ground breaking news. Both had made comfortable livings working in the construction business but in early February, when many young people in eastern Libya were volunteering to help visiting journalists, the two men joined the wave. Suliman worked briefly with an Italian television crew, and for reporters working for the Washington Post. Osama first worked with a New York Times Magazine reporter.
Weeks later, after many of the young Libyan volunteers had gone back to their lives, Osama and Suliman continued to assist international journalists, travelling to the front lines with Jon Lee Anderson of the New Yorker and Leila Fadel of the Washington Post, helping them uncover stories.
(snip)
http://www.journalism.co.uk/news-features/-wherever-there-was-news-we-went—libya-s-a-team-fixers-on-getting-the-story-out/s5/a546770/
‘Wherever there was news, we went’: Libya’s ‘A-Team’ fixers on getting the story out
When fighting broke out in Benghazi, Libyan construction workers Suliman Ali
Zway and Osama Alfitory began working with international journalists. Their work was recognised last night when they won the Martin Adler Prize
Posted: 17 November 2011
(snip)
This year’s winners are Suliman Ali Zway and Osama Alfitory, two Libyan fixers who worked with some of the world’s most established foreign correspondents during the country’s tumultuous revolution.
Zway and Alfitory were construction workers who quit comfortable jobs to volunteer for the Western journalists that flooded into Benghazi when the February protests turned to armed rebellion.
How it began
“It all came by chance at the beginning,” Zway tells me during a trip to London to collect his award.
“The protests were over and the fighting was just beginning. Only a few were fighting and had gone to the frontline. A lot of journalists came in and wanted to get an idea of what was happening.”
“No one really knows anything about Libya,” Alfitory says, “but suddenly all these journalists came to Benghazi to find out what was going on”.
“In the beginning I had decided to fight with the rebels, as it was our duty to protect our city. But just for a moment, until in my mind I realised that to help the journalists would be a much better cause. Back in February there were a lot of people starting to fight but not many helping journalists.”
(snip)
More than a work relationship
Zway and Alfitory are now in London to attend the Rory Peck Awards ceremony, and will stay for two weeks to “unwind after eight months of conflict”.
Their trip was part-funded by Jon Lee Anderson and organised by a group of journalists who worked with them, including Fadel.
Anderson is unequivocal about the importance of Zway’s and Alfitory’s work and the award it has won them.
“The work Suliman and Osama did for me, as they did for others in Libya, was essential,” he says.
“They were my trusted eyes and ears in an alien environment and my sounding boards for everything; together we found and reported the stories I later published. There were many reporters who did not have such fixers and they really struggled.”
(snip)
http://mije.org/richardprince/adl-flies-latino-journalists-israel
Zway and Alfitory were construction workers who quit comfortable jobs to volunteer for the Western journalists that flooded into Benghazi when the February protests turned to armed rebellion.
http://www.shabablibya.org/news/king-of-kings-the-last-days-of-muammar-qaddafi
I asked my friend Suliman Ali Zway, a construction-materials contractor who was helping me as an interpreter, to tell me what it said.
(snip)
But Qaddafi’s ban on private enterprise created many food and commodity scarcities; bananas, for instance, became a prized luxury. David Sullivan, a private investigator from San Francisco, worked for a contractor in Libya, setting up telecommunications systems around the country. “Nearly all work was done by foreigners.” he said.
http://www.atex.com/news-events/press-releases/libyan-fixers-win-2011-martin-adler-prize-sponsored-by-atex-1.1774
Known by international journalists as the “A Team”, Suliman Ali Zway and Osama osama martin alderAlfitory, found themselves in every corner of the country during Libya’s revolution, helping journalists deliver accurate and ground breaking news. Both had made comfortable livings working in the construction business but in early February, when many young people in eastern Libya were volunteering to help visiting journalists, the two men joined the wave. Suliman worked briefly with an Italian television crew, and for reporters working for the Washington Post. Osama first worked with a New York Times Magazine reporter.
Weeks later, after many of the young Libyan volunteers had gone back to their lives, Osama and Suliman continued to assist international journalists, travelling to the front lines with Jon Lee Anderson of the New Yorker and Leila Fadel of the Washington Post, helping them uncover stories.
Separately, they worked – often voluntarily – for many of the world’s biggest international news organizations, including the BBC, the New York Times, PBS and CBS. Working together they helped to probe allegations of a death squad in Benghazi and reveal the psychological toll of the war, among other stories.
Osama and Suliman’s dedication and insight about Libya were so coveted by international journalists that they earned the nickname the “A-Team”. Both are now journalists in their own right and have penned articles on difficult subjects for a new Libyan magazine, ‘The Libyan’.
http://www.unionleader.com/article/20110821/NEWS/110829983
August 21. 2011 8:05PM
Gadhafi regime apparently falls in Libya
By SULIMAN ALI ZWAY,
HANNAH ALLAM
and SHASHANK BENGALI
McClatchey Newspapers
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/23/world/africa/in-his-last-days-qaddafi-wearied-of-fugitives-life.html?_r=0
In His Last Days, Qaddafi Wearied of Fugitive’s Life
By KAREEM FAHIM
Published: October 22, 2011
Suliman Ali Zway contributed reporting.
