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

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/Update) Hold a good thought, please...

This morning's dispatch from Afghanistan:

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

Please sign the petition on Kash's behalf. Thanks.

 

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

May I ask this one thing?
Why are they negotiating with terrorists?
What could they give the terrorists? I don't think Italy is going to pull out troops over this.
And doesn't that set a bad precedent?

 

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

Fair question.

It's unlikely that Kash was snatched by terrorists. The kidnappers still haven't identified themselves. Or having done so, it hasn't made the wires. Even the Taliban have disavowed them, so it's hard to say whether they're jihadis or nationalists or simply criminal opportunists. The Italian government will not, of course, accede to any of the demands that have been made public so far - swap Kash for a Muslim apostate; pull the troops out of Afghanistan.

Hence, they're probably not "terrorists" per se. More likely what they want is money.

As to the precedent this may or may not set, I think it depends completely on the case. Certainly the embassy or consulate or NGO or local government must take a kidnapper's call if someone's been spirited away. And then keep them talking as long as they can, until they figure out who they're dealing with and how best to get the abducted home.

This kind of abduction is now common across the middle east and the subcontinent. A Spanish photographer was snatched in Gaza just this morning. Political? Criminal? Who knows?

 

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

Thanks, jgmacg.
Obviously, you know I'm not asking that to be confrontational, I'm genuinely curious.
But I do hope he gets out safely.

 

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

It was a perfectly reasonable question MarkVid. Here's 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...

I signed the petition yesterday.
I got a note back in French thanking me.

 

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

Bien sur. Reporters San Frontieres is a French organization. But the National Union of Journalists in Britain; and PEN and the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Reporters Committee for a Free Press here in the States have all been working on this. Thanks for signing.

 

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

Here's the news for Thursday:

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

Please continue to hold good thoughts, and sign the petition if you can.

 

A few hours ago, our friend Kash was released by his kidnappers in Afghanistan.

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

Our thanks to everyone on the board for their support.

 

That is incredible news. I'm so happy for him and for all those who were concerned for him.

 

Thanks, Yew Tee. I'll post the details of his release when they become available.