Blogger, news website editor under scanner in Libya (In the photo: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi)
In Libya, writer and blogger Mohamed Ashim was detained after security forces raided his home and confiscated his computer and mobile phone, CPJ said quoting news reports.Taqi al-Din al-Shalawi, the director of Irassa, a local, independent news website, and Abdel Fattah Bourwaq, the site's editor-in-chief, were summoned for questioning by internal security forces, reported daily newspaper Libya Al-Youm.(In the photo: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi prays during a ceremony marking the birth of Prophet Mohammad in Tripoli February 13, 2011.) REUTERS

About 200 anti-government protesters demanding the release of a human rights activist clashed with police on Wednesday in Libya's coastal city of Benghazi, according to reports.

Doha-based Al Jazeera channel said demonstrators gathered in front of police headquarters and chanted slogans against the corrupt rulers of the country.

Meanwhile, drawing inspiration from the massive popular protests in Tunisia and Egypt, the anti-government factions in Libya called on people to observe Thursday as a Day of Rage.

Libyan ruler Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, who has been in power for the last 41 years, is one of the longest-serving heads of states in the world.

According to Al Jazeera, the immediate provocation of the sudden breakout of rare protests in Libya was the arrest of human rights lawyer Fathi Terbil, who was later released by the authorities.

Terbil was also the official spokesman of the families of around twelve-hundred prisoners who were killed in the Abu Slim prison massacre in 1996. The prisoners had objected to their inhumane conditions inside the prison.

The channel has also reported that a group of prominent Libyans, including political activists, lawyers, students, and government officials have demanded the resignation of Gaddafi.

However, there have also been demonstrations in support of the long-serving ruler. There were demonstrations in support of long-time Libyan Moammar Gadhafi in several cities, including Benghazi, on Wednesday, the CNN report said, quoting the country's state news agency.