(Great News! Latest Update) Hold a good thought, please...

…for our friend and colleague Gabriele Torsello, who has been abducted in Afghanistan. If you’re a journalist, he’s your colleague, too. Nicknamed 'Kash', he is a good man, as compassionate as he is courageous; a photojournalist who has only ever tried in his work to reveal the truth of human love and of human suffering. His work, in Kashmir and Nepal and elsewhere, is here:

http://www.kashgt.co.uk/

And the latest on the story of his abduction is here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,,1926520,00.html

That his kidnappers want to swap Gabriele, a Christian who became a Muslim, for an Afghani Muslim who became a Christian, reveals somehow the absurdity of those labels and illuminates the greater failings of religious hatred.

I know we argue the war in general terms here, and as a sidebar to political theory. But however you may feel about this war, or about God, please hold Kash in your heart.

 

Re: (Updated) Hold a good thought, please...

Here's the petition on behalf of Kash's release, from Reporters Without Borders. Please sign if you can.

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=19323

 

Re: (Updated) Hold a good thought, please...

I'm feeling you on this. I signed the petition, and I'll be holding out hope.

I know the pain that this brings for family and friends. My cousin was murdered in Guatemala the night of a national election six years ago. It was devastating. Correspondents who go into these dangerous lands deserve much more respect and support. They pay a dear price to bring us the truth and to lead our world down the road to justice, peace and understanding.

 

Re: (Petition/Update) Hold a good thought, please...

Thanks, H_M. I'll try to keep this up near the top of the board for the weekend.

 

Re: (Petition/Update) Hold a good thought, please...

Nothing to report yet this morning. Please take a look at Kash's work, and sign the petition if you can. Thanks.

 

Re: (Petition/Update) Hold a good thought, please...

Bouncing this back to the top with an update.

http://ansa.it/main/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2006-10-23_1234294.html

 

Re: (Petition/Latest Update) Hold a good thought, please...

The latest update:

http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level_English.php?cat=Security&loid=8.0.352831544&par=

Please sign the petition for Kash's release if you haven't done so yet.

 

Re: (Petition/Latest Update) Hold a good thought, please...

This morning's news:

http://ansa.it/main/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2006-10-25_1256069.html

 

Re: (Petition/Latest Update) Hold a good thought, please...

Here's the only news today:

http://www.agi.it/english/news.pl?doc=200610261327-1102-RT1-CRO-0-NF51&page=0&id=agionline-eng.arab

Please sign the petition, and hold Kash in your thoughts. Thanks

 

As of a couple of hours ago, our friend Kash was released by his Afghan kidnappers.

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=19561

Thanks to everyone here who kept him in their thoughts.

 

I made a few calls. I, you know, have connections in the Afghan warlord community.

That's great news. Makes for a nice start to my Friday. I'm sure he feels the same way.

 

Thanks, Heinie. Your commanding phone manner with Taliban jihadis, mujahadeen warlords and the SIDs of the Khyber Pass is well known on the sub-continent. I'll post the particulars of Kash's release once they're known.