(CNN) -- Three journalists who were released by Libyan officials crossed into Tunisia Thursday.
The journalists were among four who were captured by the Libyan military and imprisoned for weeks. They were originally sentenced to jail for a year, but a Libyan government spokesman announced their release Wednesday.
The location of the fourth journalist was not immediately clear.
Libyan government spokesman Musa Ibrahim said a judge released the four journalists after ordering them to pay a fine for entering the country illegally.
After their release, Ibrahim spoke with the four journalists in a hotel lobby in Tripoli and told them they were welcome to stay and work in Libya. The government can issue them journalist visas, he told them.
Since violence erupted in Libya in February, the Committee to Protect Journalists has tallied more than 80 attacks on members of the news media, including four deaths and 49 detentions.
Human Rights Watch and the Committee to Protect Journalists have called upon the Libyan government to account for missing journalists covering the conflict there.
CNN's Jomana Karadsheh and Nima Elbagir contributed to this report.
