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Alan Johnston
Photo: AP

Journalists protest in Gaza for kidnapped BBC reporter

Dozens of Palestinian and foreign journalists demonstrate outside Gaza's parliament building on Saturday, demand release of BBC reporter kidnapped by masked gunmen on Monday

Several dozen journalists staged a protest outside the Palestinian parliament in Gaza City on Saturday, calling for the release of BBC reporter Alan Johnston who was kidnapped Monday by unidentified masked gunmen from his car in Gaza City. Officials said the kidnapped man threw a business card on the street with his details during the abduction. No group has come forward yet with ransom demands.

 


Journalists rally for Johnston in Gaza on Saturday (Photo: AP)

 

Paul Greeves, a BBC staffer from London, participated in the protest. ''Clearly, we are still very concerned,'' he said. ''We still fear for Alan's welfare.''

 

The British Broadcasting Corp. said Thursday there was still no word on Johnston's whereabouts and made a fresh appeal for his safe return.

 

''We have had no firm information about Alan's whereabouts since he left our office here in Gaza on Monday afternoon,'' BBC Middle East Bureau Editor Simon Wilson said in a brief statement to Palestinian and foreign journalists. ''We would therefore urge everyone with influence here to continue their efforts, so that Alan may be reunited with his family and colleagues at the earliest opportunity.'

 

Wilson thanked the Palestinian journalists for their support for Johnston and spoke of the high regard in which they hold him.

 

"It is clear to us that in Gaza, Alan is regarded as a Gaza journalist foremost and a foreign journalist second."

 

He again called on anyone with information that could help resolve the situation to come forward.

Johnston, from Scotland, had been reporting from Gaza for the past three years.

 

Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas has condemned the abduction and said he has ordered security forces to search for the kidnappers.

 

In most cases, victims have been released unharmed within hours. An exception was the abduction last

summer of two Fox News employees who were held for two weeks, prompting many foreign journalists to refrain from entering Gaza.

 

The last foreigner taken hostage was Jaime Razuri, 50, a Peruvian photographer on assignment for French news agency Agence France Presse, who was abducted at gunpoint on Jan. 1 and released a week later.

In October 2006, AP photographer Emilio Morenatti was abducted and released unharmed after 15 hours.

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 03.18.07, 02:18
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