Anton Hammerl, South African photographer, is killed in Libya

On 5 April 2011, South African photographer Anton Hammerl was killed, allegedly by Libyan forces on the Brega frontline. According to eyewitnesses, Hammerl’s injuries were such that he could not have survived without medical attention.  Consequently, he died in the desert. Hammerl and other frontline journalists were taken by Libyan forces to Brega, Libya, during the rebels’ attempt to oust Muammar Gaddaffi’s regime in February 2011. South African International Relations and Co-operation Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said that South Africa was doing its best to find him and bring his body back home so that his family could give him a decent funeral. The Hammerl family said: "From the moment Anton disappeared in Libya we have lived in hope as the Libyan officials assured us that they had Anton. It is intolerably cruel that Gaddaffi loyalists have known Anton's fate all along and chose to cover it up." Hammerl’s frontline “brother”, Unai Aranzadi, wrote on the back of a photograph he took before they were abducted: “Dear Anton, this is a picture that I took from you in the Brega Frontline. Im sure that we will meet again, maybe not in my hotel room, may be not having dinner in Benghazi or visiting the frontline, but with our loved ones, with a cold beer, in peace and safety. See you soon my frontline brother!”