Foreign press returns to Libya following a 25 year absence

The company is going to distribute 90 Arab and international newspapers and magazines, including the main British, French and US dailies, said Abdessalem Meshri, director of Al-Ghad (Tomorrow), a private media business set up by Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi's reformist son Seif al-Islam, the AFP reported.

According to Meshri, the distribution of the foreign titles would not be controlled by the state.

But that does not mean that we are not going to take account of our social, cultural and Islamic values, he added, the AFP reported.

He said the titles returning to Libyan news-stands ranged from heavyweight broadsheets like the International Herald Tribune to tabloids like Britain's Daily Mirror. They also include the two main Saudi-owned pan-Arab dailies, Al-Hayat and Asharq al-Awsat.

In the past the state controlled media has maintained media has never reported any opinions conflicting with those of the ruling party.

The Libyan government has also long maintained a tight grip on both print and broadcast media.

Following the aftermath Kadhafi's 1969 coup, the country's media landscape has been dominated by the General Libyan Press Office which oversees three daily newspapers.

The Libyan authorities allowed for a period of nine months between 2006 and 2007 a small number of foreign titles to be sold.

In 2007, Al-Ghad launched two groundbreaking independent dailies and the country's first private television channel. In their first few months the two newspapers broke a string of longstanding taboos, publishing criticism of senior officials and championing the cause of exiled opposition figures.

Since this, authorities have further loosened their control over the media. In November 2008, AFP was allowed to open a bureau in the capital Tripoli and have a permanent foreign accredited correspondent.

This is a first for a global news agency.