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'Guardian' journalist kidnapped by gunmen
Rory Carroll, the Guardian corr-espondent in Iraq, has been kidnapped by armed gunmen who ambushed his car.
Mr Carroll had been visiting an Iraqi family in Baghdad yesterday to report on their reaction while watching the trial of Saddam Hussein on television. He had broadcast a live report on the trial to RTE, the Irish broadcaster, and on the Romanian news channel Realitatea TV.
Mr Carroll, 33, an Irish citizen, has in Iraq been nine months for The Guardian. His driver and translator were later released unharmed.
The Guardian said in a statement: "It is believed Mr Carroll may have been taken by a group of armed men. The Guardian is urgently seeking information about Mr Carroll's whereabouts and condition."
Mr Carroll's father, Joe, said the paper had told him three people had been with his son when he was abducted, "and one of them did get a bit roughed up, but he was the only one kidnapped."
Journalists have long been targets of kidnappers in Iraq, who calculate they are worth more than Iraqi businessmen. Other British journalists have been seized and briefly held by militiamen or insurgents but none has been held for a long time.
French and Italian journalists and foreign nationals have been detained and only freed after prolonged negotiations and the payment of large sums of money. Although all regular correspondents live in heavily defended hotels, they are vulnerable to attack when travelling to and from interviews. A second car is often used to see if the correspondent is being followed.
Read More
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article320818.ece
Mr Carroll, 33, an Irish citizen, has in Iraq been nine months for The Guardian. His driver and translator were later released unharmed.
The Guardian said in a statement: "It is believed Mr Carroll may have been taken by a group of armed men. The Guardian is urgently seeking information about Mr Carroll's whereabouts and condition."
Mr Carroll's father, Joe, said the paper had told him three people had been with his son when he was abducted, "and one of them did get a bit roughed up, but he was the only one kidnapped."
Journalists have long been targets of kidnappers in Iraq, who calculate they are worth more than Iraqi businessmen. Other British journalists have been seized and briefly held by militiamen or insurgents but none has been held for a long time.
French and Italian journalists and foreign nationals have been detained and only freed after prolonged negotiations and the payment of large sums of money. Although all regular correspondents live in heavily defended hotels, they are vulnerable to attack when travelling to and from interviews. A second car is often used to see if the correspondent is being followed.
Read More
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article320818.ece
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Thursday October 20, 2005
The Guardian
The Guardian's Iraq correspondent, Rory Carroll, was last night missing after being kidnapped by gunmen in Baghdad. Carroll, 33, an experienced foreign correspondent, had been conducting an interview in the city with a victim of Saddam Hussein's regime. He had been preparing an article for today's paper on the opening of the former dictator's trial yesterday.
Carroll, who was accompanied by two drivers and a translator, was confronted by the gunmen as he left the house where he had been carrying out the interview. He and one of the drivers were bundled into cars. The driver was released about 20 minutes later.
Carroll has been in Iraq since January. He volunteered for the assignment and his coverage has been critical of the US-led coalition. Before Iraq, he had been the paper's correspondent in Africa, based in Johannesburg, since 2002. In the previous three years he had been based in Rome, where he covered the aftermath of the Kosovo war.
He was born in Dublin, attended university there and worked for various Irish papers before moving to London. He has an Irish passport. The Irish government was last night in contact with its embassies throughout the Middle East to try to secure help in finding him.
Alan Rusbridger, the Guardian's editor, said: "We're deeply concerned at Rory's disappearance. He is in Iraq as a professional journalist - and he's a very good, straight journalist whose only concern is to report fairly and truthfully about the country. We urge those holding him to release him swiftly - for the sake of his family and for the sake of anyone who believes the world needs to be kept fully informed about events in Iraq today."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1596080,00.html
A JOURNALIST working for The Guardian was abducted at gunpoint in Baghdad yesterday. Rory Carroll, 33, an Irish citizen, was on assignment when he disappeared in the Iraqi capital, where he has worked for nine months as the paper’s correspondent. The newspaper confirmed that Mr Carroll had been abducted.
“Rory Carroll was . . . kidnapped by gunmen in Baghdad,” the paper reported. He had been conducting an interview with a victim of Saddam Hussein’s regime.
“Carroll, who was accompanied by two drivers and a translator, was confronted by the gunmen as he left the house where he had been carrying out the interview,” the paper added.
“He and one of the drivers were bundled into cars. The driver was released about 20 minutes later.”
Mr Carroll has previously worked for The Guardian in Rome and Africa. He is the son of Joe Carroll, a former correspondent for The Irish Times in North America. Last night Mr Carroll said that his son had always played down fears for his safety. “He knew we were worried but he used to reassure us and say that it was not as dangerous as people outside think,” he said.
More than 200 foreigners and thousands of Iraqis have been kidnapped since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. The Irish Republic supplied no troops to the coalition and has been critical of the invasion.
Dermot Ahern, the Irish Foreign Affairs Minister, yesterday spoke to Irish embassy officials in Tehran and Cairo and is liaising with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. A year ago he intervened in the kidnap of Ken Bigley, issuing an Irish passport to convince Bigley’s captors of his Irish citizenship. The last reported abduction of a foreigner was last month, when a video on the internet showed Garabet Jekerjian, a Lebanese contractor, being held at gunpoint. Nearly 40 foreigners have been killed, and journalists have been targeted before in Iraq.
Yesterday the Ministry of Defence said that a British soldier had died from injuries sustained when a roadside bomb detonated near his Land Rover in Basra.
The soldier, from the Coldstream Guards, who has not been named, was due to have returned home in the next few days after completing his six-month tour. He was the 97th British serviceman to die in Iraq since the start of Britain’s campaign in southern Iraq in March 2003.
The soldier was outside his armoured Land Rover, checking the route of his two-vehicle patrol, when the bomb was detonated close to him. Three other British soldiers were injured, although not seriously.
Military experts were investigating the incident yesterday to discover whether the bomb was similar to other sophisticated devices that have killed eight British soldiers since May.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-1833978,00.html
Mr Carroll, from Dublin, may have been taken by armed men while on assignment in Baghdad, the newspaper said.
Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger said they were "deeply concerned" at his disappearance.
Ireland's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, has told the Carroll family his department was ready to offer any assistance required.
Mr Rusbridger appealed to those holding the 33-year-old to release him.
"He is in Iraq as a professional journalist - and he's a very good, straight journalist whose only concern is to report fairly and truthfully about the country," he said.
"We urge those holding him to release him swiftly - for the sake of his family and for the sake of anyone who believes the world needs to be kept fully informed about events in Iraq today."
Mr Carroll, an Irish citizen, was interviewed from Baghdad on Wednesday morning for RTE radio's Pat Kenny Show, about the start of Saddam Hussein's trial.
A few hours later, his family was informed by the editor of the Guardian that he had been "taken".
Aid worker
His father, Joe, told the BBC: "It was something we had been secretly dreading. We were hoping it would never happen."
Mr Carroll said his son had received specialised training for such situations.
"He knew we were worried but he used to reassure us and say it wasn't as dangerous as people outside think and if you observed basic rules of security, you'd be okay," he said.
"We knew he was playing it down for our sake. It was obvious danger.
"He did make it clear to us that he took all the precautions that he thought were necessary."
A graduate of Trinity College, Dublin, Rory Carroll started his career at the Irish News in Belfast, where he was named Northern Ireland young journalist of the year in 1997.
He later joined the Guardian as a home news reporter, and was made South Europe correspondent in 1999.
He was the paper's South Africa correspondent before going to Iraq.
The leader of Fine Gael in the Republic of Ireland, Enda Kenny, said his disappearance was a "major cause of concern".
"I assume the minster for foreign affairs will take a direct and personal interest in this.
"Obviously when anybody is kidnapped it is a cause of concern but as this is an Irish citizen it brings it in to sharper focus for us here."
Mr Carroll has gone missing on the first anniversary of the abduction in Baghdad of Dublin-born aid work Margaret Hassan.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4359352.stm