Iraq: Muslim & Islamic institutions call for Release of Two French Journalists by Reporters without Borders / United Nations 1:58pm 30th Aug, 2004   29 August 2004    Many Muslims and Islamic institutions called today for the release of two French journalists threatened with execution by kidnappers in Iraq. Reporters Without Borders appealed to Arab media to give the widest publicity to these calls.    The kidnappers have said they will execute the journalists - Christian Chesnot, a freelance with Radio France Internationale and Radio France, and Georges Malbrunot, a senior reporter with the dailies Le Figaro and Ouest France - if the French government does not immediately lift its ban on wearing Muslim headscarves in French schools.    The head of France's Muslim Council, Dalil Boubakeur, deplored the kidnapping as "immoral and unspeakable" and Lhaj Breze, president of the French Union of Islamic Organisations, said he "very strongly rejected interference by any foreign force" in relations between the French government and Islamic institutions in France.    Iraq's Sunni Committee of Muslim Ulemas earlier called for the journalists to be freed. Spokesman Sheikh Abdessatar Abdeljawad urged the kidnappers to "preserve our friendship with France, which has opposed the occupation of Iraq." A spokesman for the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood condemned "the kidnapping of civilians for any reason, especially when the issues raised do not concern the country where the kidnapping took place."    Reporters Without Borders appealed to the kidnappers to listen to the appeals from a range of Muslims and their organisations. It stressed that the two journalists knew the Arab world well, were very respectful of Islam and had never reported in a sensational manner.    The pan-Arab TV station Al-Jazeera broadcast a video on 28 August showing the two reporters saying they were in good health and were being held by members of the Islamic Army of Iraq, which said the pair would be executed if France did not lift the headscarves ban within 48 hours.    31 August 2004    UNESCO chief pleads for release of French journalists abducted in Iraq (UN News)    The head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today issued an urgent plea for the release of two French reporters held hostage in Iraq, vigourously condemning for the second time in a week the “shameful targeting” of journalists in the strife-torn country.    Christian Chesnot, a correspondent for Radio France International, and Georges Malbrunot of the daily Le Figaro are being held by militants demanding that France rescind a ban on Muslim female students wearing headscarves in schools, according to a video aired on the Al-Jazeera Arabic television station.    “It is totally unacceptable that conflicting factions should use them [the journalists] as pawns in their struggle. Such attacks will not contribute to the well-being of the people of Iraq. Such actions are contrary to the teaching of Islam,” UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura said.    “I am deeply distressed by the shameful targeting of media professionals in Iraq and wish to pay tribute to their courage and their exemplary commitment to freedom of expression,” he added.    According to the International News Safety Institute, 51 media workers from 16 countries have died covering the Iraq conflict. The heaviest toll has been paid by Iraqi journalists – 28 of them have been killed.    Over the past several months Mr. Matsuura has issued numerous condemnations of the murder of journalists in various countries, calling them an attack on society as a whole. Only last Saturday he denounced reported killing in Iraq of Italian reporter Enzo Baldoni as a “flagrant disregard for civilian lives and for the most fundamental human values." Visit the related web page
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