New York, March 12, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists today condemned the abduction of a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) correspondent in the Gaza Strip and called on his kidnappers to free him.
Veteran correspondent Alan Johnston, 43, was seized by four unmasked, armed men in a white vehicle as he was driving near the BBC’s Gaza City office on Al-Wihdah Street, according to local CPJ sources in the Gaza Strip.
Johnston, who has been based in Gaza for the last three years, had gone to the BBC office in the afternoon. Around 2 p.m., gunmen stopped his car four blocks from the office.
No claim of responsibility was made and the motive for the kidnapping remained unknown, local journalists told CPJ. Johnston was the 15th journalist abducted in the Gaza Strip since 2004, according to CPJ research.
“We demand that those holding Alan Johnston free him at once,” CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said. “He is a respected journalist who was simply doing his job reporting the story from Gaza, as he has for the last three years.”
Hamas spokesperson Fawzi Barhoum issued a press release condemning the abduction, local journalists told CPJ. Palestinian security forces set up checkpoints in Gaza and are searching for Johnston, the BBC reported.
CPJ research shows that all of the 14 previously abducted journalists were released unharmed, the majority after several hours in captivity. But on January 1, Agence France-Presse photographer Jaime Razuri was abducted in Gaza and held in captivity for a week. In August 2006, a group called Holy Jihad Brigades held Fox News Channel correspondent Steve Centanni and freelance cameraman Olaf Wiig for 13 days before releasing them unharmed.
Past kidnappings appeared to be the work of private individuals or groups seeking to exploit foreign hostages for political purposes or to use them as bargaining chips to secure the release of jailed relatives or to win government jobs. To CPJ’s knowledge, none of those responsible for abducting members of the media have ever been apprehended or brought to justice for their actions.
Gaza Strip 2004-07
2007
January 1, 2007
Jaime Razuri, Agence France-Presse
Razuri, a veteran staff photographer for AFP, was seized by a group of unmasked, armed men as he was entering the news agency’s bureau in Gaza City, AFP reported. He had been returning from an assignment with his interpreter and driver.
Razuri was released on January 7. It is unclear who abducted him. Palestinian security officials suspected that the Dughmush family, a large armed clan in Gaza City, was behind the abduction. The Dughmush clan had been pressuring the ruling Islamic Resistance Movement to turn over 18 people suspected of killing two of its members, according to reports and CPJ sources. But an aide to President Mahmoud Abbas said the family helped in releasing the journalist and was not directly linked to the abduction.
2006
October 24, 2006
Emilio Morenatti, The Associated Press
Morenatti, an Associated Press photographer, was abducted by unidentified Palestinian gunmen as he walked out of his Gaza City apartment toward his driver and interpreter Majed Hamdan, the AP reported. Hamdan said four gunmen grabbed his keys and phone and told him to turn away, pressing a gun to his head, and threatening to harm him. The gunmen shoved Morenatti into a white Volkswagen and sped off.
He was released later that day. The AP said no group claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.
August 14, 2006
Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig, Fox News Channel
Centanni and Wiig, a correspondent and freelance cameraman respectively for Fox News Channel, were ambushed by gunmen on Omar al-Mukhtar Street in the center of Gaza City. Two vehicles trapped the journalists’ satellite uplink truck marked “TV.” Gunmen forced the driver to the ground, and abducted the two journalists. A previously unknown group called the Holy Jihad Brigades later claimed responsibility. The group demanded the release of Muslim prisoners held by the United States. The journalists were released unharmed on August 27.
March 14, 2006
Caroline Laurent, Elle
Alfred Yaghobzadeh, SIPA
Yong Tae-young, KBS
Gunmen seized Laurent, a reporter for the French women’s weekly Elle, Yaghobzadeh, a photographer from the photo agency SIPA, and Tae-young, a correspondent for South Korea’s public broadcaster KBS, at the Al-Dira Hotel in Gaza. All three were released unharmed 22 hours later. Palestinian security services said the kidnappers were members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Reuters reported at the time. The abductions came after Israeli forces stormed a prison in the West Bank town of Jericho and seized a PFLP leader, Ahmad Saadat, and five other group members held in connection with the assassination of an Israeli minister.
2005
October 12, 2005
Dion Nissenbaum, Knight Ridder
Adam Pletts, Knight Ridder
Nissenbaum, a U.S. reporter for the Knight Ridder newspaper chain, and British photographer Pletts, a freelancer working for the news organization, were abducted by armed gunmen in the southern Gaza Strip. “A car followed our vehicle for three or four minutes and then stopped us. Six gunmen pointed their weapons and said ’We want the foreigners,’” Ziad Abu Mustafa, a Palestinian interpreter who was with the journalists, told Reuters. He said the captors ordered him to stay behind as they drove off with the two journalists, heading toward the southern Gaza town of Rafah. The journalists were freed later that day after several hours in captivity. Palestinian security officials said the men were kidnapped by renegade members of the ruling Fatah party, CPJ sources said. They said Fatah officials and Palestinian security officers negotiated their release.
September 10, 2005
Lorenzo Cremonesi, Corriere della Serra
Masked gunmen abducted Italian journalist Cremonesi, of the newspaper Corriere della Serra, in the town of Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip. He was released later that day unharmed.
August 15, 2005
Mohammed Ouathi, France 3
Ouathi, a soundman for French television channel France 3, was forced into a car on August 15 by three men with rifles as he walked to his hotel in Gaza City with France 3 colleagues. He was released on August 22. No group claimed responsibility for Ouathi’s abduction. Reuters reported that a Palestinian militant umbrella group called the Popular Resistance Committees said it had helped mediate Ouathi’s release, but it did not identify the kidnappers.
January 8, 2005
Ramon Lobo and Carmen Secanella, El Pais
Reporter Lobo and photographer Secanella of the Spanish daily El Pais were briefly abducted by masked gunmen in Gaza’s Khan Younes refugee camp. They were released unharmed 90 minutes later.
2004
September 27, 2004
Riad Ali, CNN
Ali, a producer for CNN, was seized at gunpoint from a car in Gaza City. He was freed the following day.
CNN said a tape surfaced shortly before Ali’s release in which the producer said he was being held by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a militant Palestinian group with ties to Fatah. The brigade had earlier denied involvement in the kidnapping and had joined other groups in condemning it. Ali said on the tape that he is a Druze, a minority Arab population in Israel whose members often serve in the Israeli army. He called for the Druze not to serve in the Israeli army. No demands were made.
STATISTICAL BREAKDOWN (includes Johnston abduction):
By Year:
• 2007: 2
• 2006: 6
• 2005: 6
• 2004: 1
By Nation:
• Spain: 4
• United States: 2
• United Kingdom: 2
• France: 2
• Other European and Asian countries: 5
By Gender:
• Men: 13
• Women: 2
By Job:
• Photojournalists: 6 (Includes still photographers and camera operators.)
• Reporters: 7
• Producers: 1
• Technicians: 1
By Location:
• Gaza City: 10
• Khan Younes: 4
• Deir al-Balah: 1