Posts, Pleas and Links
Deadline Passes With No Word on Reporter
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060121/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_journalist
By PAUL GARWOOD, Associated Press Writer
= Friday, January 20, 2006
BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. negotiators were working around the clock to secure the release of hostage American journalist Jill Carroll as a deadline set by militants threatening to kill her passed Friday with no word on her fate.
Muslims from Baghdad to Paris urged the militants to free the 28-year-old woman and end Iraq's wave of kidnappings. More than 240 foreigners have been taken captive and at least 39 killed since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
Carroll was seized in a rough Baghdad neighborhood on Jan. 7 by gunmen who killed her translator. The Sunni Arab politician she had gone to interview urged her release and demanded that U.S. forces stop detaining Iraqi women.
"This act has hurt me and makes me sad because the journalist was trying to meet me when she was kidnapped," Adnan al-Dulaimi said Friday. "I call upon the kidnappers to immediately release this reporter who came here to cover Iraq's news and defend our rights."
A videotape sent by Carroll's kidnappers, a group calling itself "The Revenge Brigade," was aired Tuesday by the Arab TV station Al-Jazeera, which said her captors threatened to kill her unless U.S. forces freed all Iraqi women in military custody within 72 hours. No hour was specified, and there was no indication if any prisoners had been released. But the U.S. military confirmed Friday that it has nine Iraqi women in its detention facilities on suspicion of terror-related activities.
"We don't comment on whether Iraqi female or male detainees are in the process of being released," U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Barry Johnson said. "Of course we understand the cultural sensitivities in detaining females and pay particular attention to assessing their files."
Iraq's deputy justice minister, Busho Ibrahim Ali, visited the women Friday and said six of them — three from Baghdad, and one each from Mosul, Kirkuk and Tal Afar — would be freed next week. "There's no link between the government's request for their release and the kidnapped American journalist," said Ali, who saw the detainees at a U.S. facility near Baghdad International Airport. "But I hope that their release will lead to her (Carroll's) release."
Carroll grew up in Ann Arbor, Mich., and graduated from the University of Massachusetts. She worked as a reporting assistant for The Wall Street Journal before moving to Jordan and launching her freelance career in 2002, learning Arabic along the way. Most recently, she was working for The Christian Science Monitor.
A U.S. official said little has been heard from the kidnappers since two roughly 20-second portions of the videotape were aired Tuesday and Thursday. They showed Carroll sitting in a house, surrounded by three armed, masked men.
A Baghdad-based team of U.S. hostage situation specialists, including FBI agents, diplomats and military personnel, has been following multiple leads in the hunt for Carroll, a U.S. Embassy official said. They were meeting with prominent Iraqis, particularly Sunni Arab politicians who may know the kidnappers, the official said. But the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case, said he was unaware of any contacts between the high-level hostage release team and Carroll's kidnappers.
Iraqi kidnappers have often given deadlines or ultimatums only to ignore them and keep holding captives. Kidnappers of Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, seized in Baghdad in February 2005, initially gave Italy 72 hours to withdraw its troops from Iraq. The Italians did not comply, but Sgrena was released a month later.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, more Iraqis have been abducted either by insurgents or gangs seeking ransoms.
According to figures compiled by the Washington-based Brookings Institution, there was an average of two kidnappings a day of Iraqis in Baghdad in January 2004 and 10 a day in December of that year. Last month, the think tank said kidnappings of Iraqis averaged 30 a day nationwide.
In a statement aired Friday by two major Arab television stations, Carroll's father, Jim, described his daughter as "an innocent woman" and told the captors that sparing her life would "serve your cause more than her death."
French Muslim leaders and former hostages gathered in the Grand Mosque of Paris Friday to appeal for Carroll's release and urge the U.S. government to negotiate with her kidnappers. "It is deeply revolting that an innocent life is threatened," said Dalil Boubakeur, head of the Grand Mosque of Paris and president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith.
A delegation from the Council on American-Islamic Relations flew to Jordan and planned to come to Baghdad to try to secure Carroll's release.
A spokesman for the Association of Muslim Scholars, an Iraqi Sunni clerical group that has contacts with some insurgent groups, said it could do little because it did not know who was holding the reporter. Foreign diplomats have often sought help from the association in previous abductions, although it has never advocated kidnappings nor acknowledged playing any role in securing releases.
"We plead with the kidnappers of the American female journalist and all kidnappers to release any hostages they are holding who are not part of the occupation," Sheik Mahmoud Al-Sumaidy said after a sermon at the Sunni Um al-Quraa mosque in Baghdad.
Slideshow: American Journalist Abducted in Iraq
Related AP Video
“Do Not Destroy an Innocent Soul" by her father
Play Video
Word on Baghdad's streets: Let Jill go
Play Video
Prominent Sunni Arab politician Adnan al-Dulaimi calls for the release of an American journalist during a press conference, Friday, Jan. 20, 2006, in Baghdad, Iraq. Al-Dulaimi appealed Friday for the release of American female journalist Jill Carroll and urged U.S. and Iraqi forces to stop arresting Iraqi women as a deadline set by Carroll's kidnappers draws near.
(AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
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From the Christian Science Monitor: January 20, 2006 edition
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0120/p01s02-woiq.html
As Muslims speak out, appeals intensify for reporter's release
By Dan Murphy and Charles Levinson
BAGHDAD – As calls for the safe release of kidnapped Monitor correspondent Jill Carroll continued to pour in Thursday, her mother appealed directly to the kidnappers "to release this young woman who has worked so hard to show the suffering of Iraqis to the world.... They've picked the wrong person ... if they're looking for someone who is an enemy of Iraq,'' Mary Beth Carroll told CNN. "Jill is just the opposite."
Some of the Arab world's most influential Muslim leaders, as well as human rights groups and politicians, are calling for the release of Ms. Carroll, whose captors have threatened to kill her if all women prisoners in coalition custody in Iraq are not released. An Iraqi official says a recommendation to release six of the eight women detention was made prior to the broadcast of the video by Carroll's captors.
JILL CARROLL: Her mother made a televised plea.
CARROLL FAMILY
A senior official in Iraq's Human Rights Ministry, who asks not to be identified out of fear for his safety, says that a nine-member detainee review panel (six Iraqi officials and three members of the US-led coalition) here recently recommended the release of six of the eight women in custody.
He says their release was recommended on the merits of their situation and not in connection with Carroll. He adds that the final decision now rests with Iraq's Ministry of Justice and the US general responsible for detainee operations, who should ratify the panel's recommendations.
He says the panel "did not make this recommendation because of the kidnapping or because of the hostage. This is their normal work. They have made many other recommendations before for prisoners to be released. They have released more than 10,000 prisoners male and female."
He expects the six Iraqi women will be released soon.
But a Pentagon spokesman in Washington told Reuters a release is not imminent. "There is no expected resolution of their cases in the near future," Navy Lt. Cmdr. Joe Carpenter said.
In her televised statement, Mrs. Carroll spoke of her daughter's passion for journalism and Iraq. "Taking vengeance on my innocent daughter who loves Iraq and its people will not create justice.
"To her captors, I say that Jill's welfare depends upon you. And so we call upon you to ensure that Jill is returned safely home to her family who needs her and loves her. Jill's father, sister and I ask and encourage the persons holding our daughter to work with Jill to find a way to contact us with the honorable intent of discussing her release."
'After being in Baghdad for two years ... [Jill] knew what the risks were, and she chose to accept those, because what she was doing to communicate to the world the sufferings of the Iraqi people was important'
– Mary Beth Carroll on CNN
CNN/AP
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Her plea was echoed by many respected voices in the Arab world. The Supreme Guide of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, Mahdi Akef, urged "the kidnappers of the American journalist Jill Carroll to release her immediately'' in a statement Thursday. "The Supreme Guide calls on all Iraqi factions to protect civilian lives, Iraqis or not, and especially the lives of reporters and media workers who came to expose the crimes of occupation."
The Muslim Brotherhood is considered the most powerful Islamist political opposition in the Arab world.
Links to Stories by Jill Carroll:
Here are a few of the stories Jill Carroll has written from Iraq for The Christian Science Monitor.
04/15/05
Ordinary Iraqis bear brunt of war
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0415/p06s01-woiq.html
05/04/05
Old brutality among new Iraqi forces
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0504/p01s04-woiq.html
10/13/05
Sectarian strife tears at neighbors
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1013/p06s01-woiq.html
12/14/05
What Sunni voters want
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1214/p01s04-woiq.html
In Iraq Thursday, the Iraqi Islamic Party, a leading Sunni Arab political party, also released a statement denounced kidnappings "because they are conducted against innocent people, who are mostly sympathetic with the Iraqis and their miseries.... The IIP urges the kidnappers to release this female journalist as soon as possible."
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Saad Bazaaz, editor of Azzaman, a daily newspaper, and chairman of al-Sharqiya television channel in Iraq, in a phone call from Qatar, said that "Voices are coming from everywhere [on Carroll's behalf], even from the hardliners. And that is very good. Everyone in Iraq is talking about Jill Carroll, and they are saying the right things."
The Qatar-based Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, whose Al Jazeera program has made him one of the region's most respected and popular preachers, reiterated his previous religious ruling, or fatwa, against the kidnapping and murder of journalists in Iraq and said this certainly holds for Carroll's case.
In Cairo, eight regional Arab human rights groups issued a joint statement reminding Carroll's kidnappers of her "respect for Iraqi, Arab and Islamic norms and traditions."
"The American freelance journalist is known for her extreme sympathy towards the Iraqi people and opposition to their suffering since the outbreak of the war and the invasion of Iraq,'' they wrote. The groups "plead for her release as a sign of [her captors'] good intentions and in respect to a journalist highly respected by all.... The Christian Science Monitor has been known for its objectivity ... in covering Iraq," the human rights groups wrote.
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Statement from Mary Beth Carroll
"My daughter, Jill Carroll, was taken hostage on Saturday, January 7th, in Baghdad, where she works as a reporter. Jill's fairness in reporting and her genuine concern for the Iraqi people made her the invited and welcomed guest of many Iraqi friends.
"A video just released gives us hope that Jill is alive, but has also shaken us about her fate. So, I, her father, and her sister are appealing directly to her captors to release this young woman who has worked so hard to show the suffering of Iraqis to the world.
"Jill has always shown the highest respect for the Iraqi people and their customs. We hope that her captors will show Jill the same respect in return. Taking vengeance on my innocent daughter who loves Iraq and its people will not create justice.
"To her captors, I say that Jill's welfare depends upon you. And so we call upon you to ensure that Jill is returned safely home to her family who needs her and loves her.
Jill's father, sister, and I ask and encourage the persons holding our daughter to work with Jill to find a way to contact us with the honorable intent of discussing her release."
Related Stories
Latest updates
STATEMENTS OF SUPPORT FOR JILL CARROLL
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• Posted January 20, 2006 at 1:07 p.m.
Adnan Dulaimi, head of the General Conference of the Iraqi People
I am appealing to those who kidnapped the American journalist Jill Carroll. I'm pleading with you to release her. She's a woman who struggled for the sake of the Iraqi people and defended the Iraqi people. She condemned the war on Iraq. She came here to cover our stories and let the world know about us.
I am appealing to you in the name of God, in the name of anything holy, to let her go. She came to the General Conference of the Iraqi People headquarters to interview me. I am Dr. Adnan Dulaimi. I am the one who has been defending Iraqi unity and Iraqi independence. I'm the one who has been committed to the rebuilding of Iraq.
I am asking you to release this woman. By kidnapping her, you are insulting me. You're insulting the work that I've been doing for Iraq. To the men who are kidnapping her: You know that the woman has a special status in our religion, our culture, and our principles. I'm asking those men who have kidnapped her to release her unconditionally, and I promise, with the help of God, to work on releasing Iraqi prisoners in Iraqi and American jails. I have worked hard in the past to secure the release of Iraqi prisoners. I give names of prisoners who are in detention, and some have been released. The arrest of this noble journalist will complicate my efforts to release Iraqi prisoners.
I'm appealing to you, the ones who are holding this woman, to let her go, to free her, for the sake of our country and in the name of our honor and principles, in the name of the Iraqi people -- we, the sons of the Tigris and Euphrates, the sons of Falah Eldin (famous hero in Iraqi history). I'm calling upon you to release this journalist, and, with the help of God, I promise to continue to my work to release all Iraqi prisoners.
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• Posted January 19, 2006 at 10:30 a.m.
Iraqi Islamic Party
"The media agencies have reported on the kidnapping of Jill Carroll, a correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor, in al Adel neighborhood in Baghdad after the killing of one man with her. Yesterday, one armed group announced responsibility of the kidnapping and put 72 hours to meet their demands or she will be killed."
"The IIP denounces the kidnapping because it is conducted against innocent people, who mostly sympathize with the Iraqis in their miseries. At the same time, the IIP urges the kidnappers to release this female journalist as soon as possible."
[The Iraqi Islamic Party is one of Iraq's main Sunni Arab political parties.]
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Reporters sans Frontières
"We appeal to the press of the entire world, especially in the Arab countries, to speak out in support of [Jill] Carroll. The media must not limit themselves to reporting the news, they must themselves call for Carroll's release. Muslim organisations in the United States must also intervene. Their help is valuable. Real solidarity with Carroll must be urgently demonstrated. People must act as quickly as possible and with the same energy as with previous hostages. Carroll's US nationality must not be allowed to hold back the show of support.
"We remind Carroll's kidnappers that she is a journalist who has just done her job, which is to describe the conditions in which Iraqis are living. She is not responsible for the US government's decisions."
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The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
"Journalists must be free to report on conflicts worldwide without fear of being targeted by combatants. We call for the immediate and unconditional release of Jill Carroll and for the release of all hostages held in Iraq. No cause can be served by harming those who only seek to convey the human suffering caused by war."
The Washington-based organization has 31 offices and chapters in the US and Canada. It is sending a delegation to Baghdad to make a public appeal to the kidnappers for Carroll's freedom.
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• Posted January 19, 2006 at 7:30 a.m.
Mohamed Mahdi Akef, Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brothers
"The Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brothers, Mohamed Mahdi Akef, calls on the kidnappers of the American journalist Jill Carroll to release her immediately, so as to close the door in front of those who are conspiring against the Iraqi resistance, aiming at distorting its image in front of the world and showing it [the Iraqi resistance] as merely terrorist operations that deserve American aggression.
"[The Supreme Guide] stresses that the means of resistance should remain noble. The efforts of all factions should be focused on working to liberate Iraq from the tyrannical occupation which took the lives and humiliated hundreds of thousands.
"The Supreme Guide calls on all Iraqi factions to protect civilian lives, Iraqis or not, and especially the lives of reporters and media workers who came to expose the crimes of occupation."
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• Posted January 19, 2006 at 6:52 a.m.
Egyptian human rights organizations
"Eight Egyptian human rights organizations demanded that abductors of the American journalist, Jill Carroll, working for The Christian Science Monitor, release her.
"The American freelance journalist is known for her extreme sympathy towards the Iraqi people and opposition to their suffering since the outbreak of the war and the invasion of Iraq. Her respect to Iraqi, Arab, and Islamic norms and traditions has been reflected in her choice of clothing sending a message to the Iraqi people that she is aware of and appreciates these traditions.
"Carroll was abducted on Jan. 7 2006 in al-Adl district, Baghdad, while she was on her way to interview political leaders there.
"The signatory Egyptian human rights organizations hope that their appeal will reach Carroll's abductors. They plead for her release as a sign of their good intentions and in respect to a journalist highly respected by all. In addition, The Christian Science Monitor has been known for its objectivity and seriousness in covering Iraq. The publication has won 7 Pulitzer prizes, including a prize for revealing the massacre that was committed against thousands of Bosnian Muslims by Serbia.
"At the same time, the signatory organizations are beseeching all Iraqi groups to not include journalists in a conflict in Iraq and to work on protecting their lives."
• The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRinfo)
• Al-Nadim Centre for the Psychological Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture
• The Human Rights Legal Aid Association
• The Egyptian Initiative for Individual's Rights
• The Egyptian Association against Torture
• Hesham Mubarak Law Centre
• Egyptian Right of the Child Centre
• The Rural Studies Centre
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• Posted January 18, 2006 at 3:00 p.m.
After the kidnappers of Jill Carroll threatened to kill her within three days, if their demands were not met, some of Iraq's most influential Sunni Arab leaders condemned the threat and the taking of hostages.
Adnan al-Dulaimi, Iraqi Accordance Front
"This is against us as well, not only against the foreigners. We'll try our best, we'll do as much as possible to release Jill. I'm telling you, it's very difficult, but I'll try my best," al-Dulaimi said by phone from Kuwait on Wednesday evening.
"You can publish this as a statement on my behalf condemning his act, although it's going to expose me to danger, but if you think it's going to help, I don't mind publishing it. We refuse this act. It's absolutely condemned.
"I promise you again, I'll do my best to release this journalist. Kidnapping her is an act against the Iraqi people. Nobody accepts this at all."
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Muthana Harith al-Dari, Muslim Scholars Association
Also condemning the kidnapping and threats against Ms. Carroll was Muthana Harith al-Dari, a leader of Iraq's Muslim Scholars Association, an umbrella group for a number of leading Sunni clerics, or Ulama. Mr. Dari said kidnapping is always wrong and called for Jill's immediate release.
"We condemn, denounce, and censure all acts that expose innocent citizens' lives to danger, regardless of their identities, whether they are ordinary citizens or journalists," Mr. Dari, who acts as the association's spokesman, told Al Sharqiya television in Iraq.
"If it is against journalists, then it's a double mistake because journalism is for the sake of everybody. So, attacking the journalists, whether by threatening, kidnapping or killing them, is going to conceal the truth," he said.
"We are under an operation that seeks to hide the truth – a big, wide operation conducted by the occupation forces and many other sides in order to veil the truth.
"These operations that target journalists serve two different purposes: First, they prevent true national patriotic voices from declaring their attitude towards the occupation; and second, they... defame the image of the forces that are really opposing the occupation," said Dari.
"Regarding the recent kidnapping of the American journalist ... This journalist is one of the anti-occupation journalists. Indeed, she wrote many articles that explain the negative signs of the occupation. Also, in a recent story, she focused on the violations performed by government security forces against civilians.
"So, [it's possible] that the occupiers might not be far removed from responsiblity for this event. But if it was done by some anti-occupation forces then this is a message from us to make them understand the situation and release her in order to allow her to go back to work and participate in uncovering the real reasons for the American occupation in Iraq and the violations against its people," said Dari.
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Muslim Brotherhood Association
Essam al-Eryan and Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh, senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood's Guidance Office in Cairo urged an immediate release in a statement.
"We ... appeal to the kidnappers of the American journalist Jill Carroll to release her as lives of innocent civilians – Iraqi or foreign – should be well guarded," they wrote. "Jill ... and her colleagues have come to Iraq to report the events to the world, reminding everyone of the hardships faced by the Iraqi people under occupation. Once more, we call upon our brothers in the Iraqi resistance not to target media workers. This contradicts the principles of our religion and doesn't help the cause of liberating the country."
Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood is the most powerful Islamist opposition group in the Arab world, and it has affiliations with Islamic political parties and organizations throughout the region.
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Muyad al-Lami, the Iraqi Journalists' League
In a statement aired on Al Sharqiya television in Iraq: "Today, we – the Iraqi Journalists' League – call on all those responsible for the kidnapping of the American journalist Jill Carroll, whether they are political figures, gunmen or any other kind of entity or party, to release her as soon as possible, not because she is American or European, on this side or the opposite, no, but because she is a journalist and came to Iraq to tell the world about the Iraqi people and what they're suffering from.
"She came in order to tell the world that Iraq is having a crisis and everybody must cooperate and support each other to help our people. This is why I believe that we all must support and encourage whoever wants to help Iraqi people in their crisis, not to kidnap those who want to help us."
* Hostage video ignites wide call to free Carroll 01/19/06
* A spiritual perspective: Prayers for a reporter in Iraq
The Home Forum >
Article on Christian Science from the January 19, 2006 edition
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Prayers for a reporter in Iraq
A Christian Science perspective on daily life
The captors of Jill Carroll, a freelance reporter who was kidnapped 12 days ago while on assignment in Baghdad - issued a demand and a threat on her life on Wednesday. News organizations and government organizations in Iraq continue to pursue every possible avenue for her safe release.
I ask myself, What will I - an avid consumer of news and a newly minted fan of Jill's work, but far from the scene of events - do with these remaining hours and minutes? I resolve: I will not squander them. I will not give these moments over to fear, to despair, and definitely not over to anger or vengeance. But can I consecrate these moments to prayer? Yes, I can.
Prayer has too often proved to be too powerful in my own life for me to neglect it now. I can pray, I do pray for every hostage, for their protection while in captivity, and for their safe and speedy release.
I turn to the Scriptures. One dimension of the Almighty's nature suddenly stands out boldly. He is a deliverer. Times without number, it seems, He delivers His children from famine to plenty, from captivity to freedom, from illness to well-being, from harm to safety. He is a deliverer.
Both the Old and the New Testaments spill over with accounts illustrating this. He does not turn His back. He does not forsake some for the sake of others. He does not arrive too late. He delivers to safety. As I ponder this, I intuitively sense the need is not for Him to become what He already is, but for me to become more deeply aware of Him.
I know that as I understand more of His power and presence, that understanding will fuel my prayers. That understanding will help me not squander moments on despair. It will help me throw my mental weight on the side of solutions, on the side where I glimpse a bit more of the great deliverer at work today. And every prayerful glimpse tells.
St. Paul certainly faced this kind of challenge. You perhaps recall his story from the Scriptures. Paul, a prayerful man if ever there was one, was a captive traveling with other captives, aboard a ship headed to Italy.
The seas were heavy, the winds tempestuous, the ship in peril. A kind of double peril faced Paul and his fellow captives, though. In addition to the storm clouds, ominous orders hung over them. "The soldiers' counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out, and escape," say the Scriptures. Then they add, "But the centurion, willing to save Paul, kept them from their purpose..." (Acts 27:42, 43). And they all made it safely to land.
What was at work forwarding Paul's deliverance? God's love for His offspring delivered them - delivers us - from hate. His benevolence delivers from evil. His mercy from injustice. Wonderful news doesn't make these already-true facts true. Terrible news doesn't unmake them. My task is to hew to these facts in prayer. Then these facts, these spiritual truths, reshape events for the better.
Monitor founder Mary Baker Eddy once wrote: "The power of God brings deliverance to the captive. No power can withstand divine Love" ("Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," p. 224). I seize this in prayer.
It brings me reassurance because as I pray along these lines, I realize that this delivering power is at work at this moment not only on behalf of Ms. Carroll but on behalf of every hostage, on behalf of every Iraqi that is living through this violence every day. The Lord does indeed bring deliverance to every captive. Right now is a very good time to realize that.
“Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance.”
Psalms 32:7
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Father calls for Carroll's release
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/6AE55A7A-57CE-43A4-A246-5FD88E9CE304.htm
Friday 20 January 2006, 11:40 Makka Time, 8:40 GMT
Jill Carroll was kidnapped on 7 January after an interview
Arabic television stations have broadcast an appeal from the father of kidnapped US journalist Jill Carroll as a deadline to kill her approaches. Carroll had just left the office of Adnan Dulaimi, the head of the General Conference of the Iraqi People, on 7 January when she was abducted by armed men. The kidnappers set a deadline of Friday for killing her if authorities did not release women prisoners.
Aljazeera and Al Arabiya television stations aired the appeal from Carroll's father.
"I want to speak directly to the kidnappers of my daughter Jill, who could be fathers like me," Jim Carroll said on Aljazeera in remarks dubbed into Arabic. "My daughter has no influence, she doesn't have the power to free anyone, she's just a journalist and an innocent person... Use her as a reporter to support your cause."
Adnan Dulaimi, General Conference of the Iraqi People
"Release this journalist who strived for Iraq, defended Iraqis and condemned the war in Iraq," Dulaimi told a news conference in Baghdad.
Since 2003 more than 200 foreigners have been kidnapped in Iraq. Many of them have been killed.
Aljazeera aired a brief video on Tuesday night showing Carroll, 28, a freelance journalist working for the Christian Science Monitor. The group holding her said it would kill her if Iraqi women detainees were not released within 72 hours.
Iraqi officials said on Thursday the US military was freeing six women out of eight it was holding but that this was not linked to Carroll. A US defence official said the releases would not come soon, however.
~Reuters~
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Thursday 19 January 2006, 4:56 Makka Time, 1:56 GMT
Iraqi groups seek journalist's release
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/80454A4B-558E-49A7-ABDD-C488064270B9.htm
By Firas Al-Atraqchi
Carroll wrote for the Christian Science Monitor from Iraq
A day after Aljazeera aired video of kidnapped journalist Jill Carroll, several prominent Iraqi groups have demanded her immediate and unconditional release.
Muthana Harith al-Dhari, head of the influential Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS), condemned and denounced all violent acts that expose innocent citizens – regardless of their identities – to danger.
Al-Dhari told Iraqi television: "Regarding the recent kidnapping of the American journalist [Jill Carroll] ... This journalist is one of the anti-occupation journalists. Indeed, she wrote many articles that explain the negative signs of the occupation. Also, in a recent story, she focused on the violations performed by government security forces against civilians.
"So, [its possible] that the occupiers might not be far removed from responsibility for this event. But if it was done by some anti-occupation forces then this is a message from us to make them understand the situation and release her in order to allow her to go back to work and participate in uncovering the real reasons for the American occupation in Iraq and the violations against its people."
Freelancer: Carroll, a freelance reporter for the Christian Science Monitor (CSM), who has also written for other US and Italian media from Iraq, was kidnapped on 7 January shortly after arriving for an interview with a prominent Sunni official. Her Iraqi translator, Alan (Elin) Enwiyah was killed, but her driver managed to flee the scene.
In the video aired by Aljazeera, previously unknown group Brigades of Vengeance said they would kill Carroll within 72 hours if all Iraqi female detainees were not released by US-led forces.
Faye Bowers, former deputy CSM foreign editor and national security correspondent called back to assist the newspaper, said the statements by the AMS and other Iraqi groups have raised hopes that Carroll may be released soon.
A group called Brigades for Vengeance kidnapped Carroll
She told Aljazeera.net: "We are very appreciative of the AMS for making such a public statement.
"No matter how people in the Arab World feel about the US occupation of Iraq, they feel differently about innocent and objective journalists.
"People from all walks of life in the Arab world have been calling and praying for her release."
Meanwhile on Wednesday, Adnan al-Dulaimi, head of the Iraqi Accordance Front party, said kidnapping is not an Islamic practice. He pledged all efforts by his party to secure her release.
Arab condemnation: In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood also condemned Carroll’s kidnapping and said such actions contradict the principles of religion and will not help in liberating Iraq from foreign occupation.
"We ... appeal to the kidnappers of the American journalist Jill Carroll to release her as lives of innocent civilians - Iraqi or foreign - should be well guarded.
"Jill ... and her colleagues have come to Iraq to report the events to the world, reminding everyone of the hardships faced by the Iraqi people under occupation. Once more, we call upon our brothers in the Iraqi resistance not to target media workers," the Brotherhood said in a statement.
The Muslim Brotherhood: Arab media has also condemned the kidnapping as "brutal and unwarranted".
On Tuesday, Ayman Al-Safadi, editor of the Jordanian daily Al-Ghad, expressed anger and dismay that Carroll would be targeted by armed groups. "She put her life at risk by struggling to convey the voices of Iraqis to American public opinion, which was showered with wrong information about the developments in Iraq."
Family optimism: Conveying the truth about the war in Iraq was her primary objective, says Jordanian journalist Natasha Tynes, Carroll’s friend and former colleague.
"Jill was very much into Arab culture and was learning Arabic," she told Aljazeera.net.
"Everybody loved her."
As for Carroll’s family, they have released a statement but so far have not appeared publicly. They have said they remain optimistic for her release.
~Aljazeera~
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http://humane-rights-agenda.blogspot.com/2006/01/prayers-up-for-release-of-kidnap.html
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