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New Haven native Clare Morgana Gillis, who has been detained by the Libyan government since April 5, is among four reporters who will be released today or tomorrow, the Associated Press reports.
Gillis’ mother, Jane Gillis of East Rock, said Tuesday that all the family knows is what’s being reported out of Tripoli.
“We’re just waiting,” she said.
The AP quotes government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim saying that Clare Gillis, 34, and three other journalists had finished a hearing on charges of entering the country without a visa, and that arrangements are being made to release them.
“They should go home today or tomorrow at the latest,” Ibrahim told the AP. “After the trial they were returned to external security — it’s like detention.”
Jane Gillis said the family is “hopeful” that Clare will call them directly, although they’ve heard from American government officials that their wait might continue until tomorrow, given that it’s much later in the day in Libya.
“That’s what we’ve been told,” Jane Gillis said.
Clare Gillis, a graduate of the Hopkins School, was detained while reporting on the Libyan war for The Atlantic and USA Today. According to The Atlantic, which has posted periodic updates on Gillis, she was captured in eastern Libya April 5 along with two other journalists, American reporter James Foley of GlobalPost and Spanish photographer Manuel Bravo of European Pressphoto Agency.
The AP story quotes Ibrahim saying Foley and Bravo should be released along with Gillis and another journalist, who isn’t identified.
Gillis called home on April 21, according to The Atlantic.
