Jill Carroll's blogger/journo friends continue to rally for her release
Jeff Tynes, friend and former colleague of abducted journalist Jill Carroll, says:And Salon has reprinted a post from Iraqi blogger Riverbend about Alan Ghazi, the slain interpreter who worked with Carroll:There is a great deal of stress amongst friends and family today as Jill's deadline nears. Her mother has made a statement and given an interview to CNN, appealing for her release.
Of particular note is the fact that -- over the last 24-36 hours -- four tremendously influential Iraqi and Sunni Muslim groups have come out with statements rejecting the kidnapping of journalists and calling for the release of Jill Carroll.
One of these came from Adnan al-Dulaimi, the head of the Iraqi Accordance Front -- a Sunni political group with whom Jill was supposedly going to meet the day she was kidnapped. Some have suggested his involvement but his statement clearly condemns the act, saying he and his group would do everything possible to help Jill.
Iraq's Muslims Scholars Association, a coterie of Sunni Islamic scholars, has also come out with a statement rejecting the abduction and that of all reporters. This combination of religious and political condemnation from within Iraq is very powerful, perhaps sending a message that will prevent this violent trend from continuing. And, most hopefully here, helping Jill's captors see that her release is in their interest as well as Jill's. Perhaps such a combined effort at condemnation from such influential groups signals an end to such deplorable actions.
The U.S. military, however, has released a statement that contradicts some reports from the BBC and others that a quid pro quo with female Iraqi detainees for Jill was in the works.
Natasha has the details here.
Link.I read the news as a subtitle on TV. We haven't had an Internet connection for several days, so I couldn't really read about the details. All I knew was that a journalist had been abducted and that her Iraqi interpreter had been killed. He was shot in cold blood in Al-Adil district earlier this month, when they took Jill Carroll ... They say he didn't die immediately. It is said he lived long enough to talk to police and then he died. I found out very recently that the interpreter killed was a good friend -- Alan, of Alan's Melody, and I've spent the last two days crying.
Everyone knew him as simply "Alan," or "Elin" as it is pronounced in Iraqi Arabic. Prior to the war, he owned a music shop in the best area in Baghdad, Al-Arasat. He sold some Arabic music and instrumental music, but he had his regular customers -- those Westernized Iraqis who craved foreign music. For those of us who listened to rock, adult alternative, jazz, etc., he had very few rivals.
Previous Boing Boing posts on Jill Carroll: Link.
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