The Libyan government says any citizen caught using an unlicensed satellite phone will be charged as a spy for NATO.

Those carrying a satellite phone without a permit could be sentenced to death as punishment for treason, AP reported Friday, August 12, citing Libya's news agency JANA.

Many Libyans have been using satellite phones to communicate with one another after the government cut off mobile phone communications when the civil war started in February. Libya's 6-month-old civil war has been deadlocked for months despite NATO's airstrikes to protect civilians.