23 March 2005
EUROPEAN EDITORS URGE RELEASE OF KIDNAPPED JOURNALISTS
On the eve of a European Union economic summit in Brussels, editors-in-chief of leading newspapers across Europe have launched a joint appeal calling for the release of kidnapped reporter Florence Aubenas and her Iraqi interpreter Hussein Hanoun al-Saadi.
At a 22 March meeting organised by the French daily "Libération", the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) and Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF), 16 editors-in-chief expressed solidarity with the kidnapped journalists, who were last seen leaving their hotel in Baghdad in January 2005.
They called on all European institutions and European Union member countries to redouble their efforts for the two hostages.
Aubenas was last seen pleading for her life in a video released to French media in late February 2005. "My name is Florence Aubenas. My health is very bad. I'm very bad psychologically also. Please help me," Aubenas said.
Visit:
- WAN: http://www.editorsweblog.org/2005/03/european_editor.html
- RSF: http://www.pourflorenceethussein.org/english/index.shtml
(image courtesy of RSF)
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