Shiites negotiate for CBS journalist

Militia works to free kidnapped reporter

By BRYAN PEARSON

BAGHDAD -- A powerful Shiite militia in southern Iraq is negotiating with kidnappers to free a British journalist working for CBS, abducted at gunpoint on Feb. 10 from his hotel in Basra.

The Basra office of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr managed to secure the release Feb. 13 of an Iraqi interpreter kidnapped along with the journalist from Basra's Palace Sultan hotel by 10 armed and masked men.

Now they are trying to persuade the kidnappers to free the Briton, who like the interpreter, has not been named.

"There are ongoing negotiations and contacts with the kidnappers. We are confident the British journalist will be released soon," said Harith al-Adhari, director of the Sadr office in Basra.

Paris-based Reporters Without Borders on Thursday welcomed the release of the interpreter and said it hoped the Briton would also soon be freed.

"Several Iraqi sources have said his abductors may soon also release the British journalist they kidnapped at the same time," it said in a statement.

"We must remain on alert as long as the British reporter employed by CBS has not been released as well," the press freedom organization added.

"We hope that intercession by members of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's movement will quickly bear fruit and the journalist will be safely reunited with his family."

The statement quoted Walid al-Khuzaiy, a member of the Sadr movement in Basra, as saying that Sadrists want to protect journalists "because they are key witnesses of what is happening in the country."

"The armed groups responsible for kidnapping journalists are mainly doing it for money, even if some of them try to justify their actions by giving political or religious reasons," al-Khuzaiy added.

Reporters Without Borders said last year 25 journalists and media assistants were kidnapped in Iraq and 208 have been killed in connection with their work since the start of the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Britain's Press Assn. said the kidnapped Briton had covered the fall of Baghdad in 2003 and worked for newspapers including the Sunday Telegraph, the New York Times and Financial Times.

It quoted the hostage's wife as saying: "It is still early days. We are just praying for him to be safe."

CBS had said in a statement that two of its media workers had gone missing in Basra but gave few other details, wanting to protect their identities.