Relatives of Tunisia missing journalists press govt for help

Tunis (AFP) - Relatives of two Tunisian journalists who disappeared in Libya about 18 months ago protested Tuesday to demand more cooperation from the Tunisian government about their fate.

Sofiene Chourabi and Nadhir Ktari went missing in Libya on September 8, 2014 and the Islamic State group later claimed it had killed them.

But in September last year, Tunisia's then foreign minister Taieb Baccouche said the pair were still alive. Since then no information about their fate has surfaced.

"This marks a year and five months since the disappearance of Nadhir and Sofiene... We're here to put pressure on the government because clues indicate that they are still alive," Chourabi's father Sami said.

"We're asking for the minimum... We have drawn up a plan to go to Libya and meet tribal leaders but they (Tunisian authorities) have not even looked at our project.

"We're waiting, hope is still here," he added.

Protesters held up portraits of the journalists and banners that read: "We are all Sofiene, We are all Nadhir."

According to the regional representative of Reporters Without Borders, Yasmine Kacha, Ktari's parents are expected to be received Wednesday by foreign ministry officials.

Chourabi, an investigative journalist and blogger who was active during Tunisia's 2011 revolution, and photographer Ktari went missing in the Ajdabiya district of eastern Libya.

In January last year, the Islamic State group claimed to have killed the pair.

But on September 7, Baccouche said he had "irrefutable proof" that Chourabi and Ktari "are alive".

"We are trying to bring them back to Tunisia," he said at the time, with no development since.