MIDEAST-CRISIS/SYRIA-SPAIN Spanish foreign minister calls for discretion on journalists missing in Syria

Record ID: 149263

  • Title: MIDEAST-CRISIS/SYRIA-SPAIN Spanish foreign minister calls for discretion on journalists missing in Syria
  • Date: 22nd July 2015
  • Summary: MADRID, SPAIN (JULY 22, 2015) (REUTERS) SPANISH FOREIGN MINISTER JOSE MANUEL GARCIA-MARGALLO WALKING OUT OF BUILDING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SPANISH FOREIGN MINISTER, JOSE MANUEL GARCIA-MARGALLO, SAYING: "Unfortunately this is not the first case I have had in the last four years, some have been picked up by the press and others haven't, but every case has been resolved so fa
  • Embargoed: 6th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Spain
  • Country: Spain
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2T28Z7V5QE4B2X98AH22TGKPC
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Spain's foreign minister called for discretion from the media on Wednesday (July 22) after Spanish media reported on Tuesday (July 21) that three Spanish freelance journalists have gone missing in Syria and are believed to have been kidnapped.
    The three men - Antonio Pampliega, Jose Manuel Lopez and Angel Sastre - were working on an investigative report in the northern city of Aleppo, where other journalists have been captured in the past.
    "Unfortunately this is not the first case I have had in the last four years, some have been picked up by the press and others haven't, but every case has been resolved so far," Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said.
    "In my experience, what isn't picked up by the press is resolved quicker so what we need to do is apply discretion. The foreign ministry and the CNI, our information service, are working on it because what we want is to bring them back home safely sooner rather than later and, for that, discretion is the rule," he added.
    The three journalists have not been heard from since soon after they entered Syria from Turkey on July 10, the head of Spanish press association FAPE said on Spanish state television.
    The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) describes Syria as the "most deadly country in the world for journalists for the past three years." Most victims are local journalists, it said in a news release on Tuesday. The CPJ says at least 12 international correspondents have been killed in the course of the war and more than 90 have been abducted in the country since the conflict began. To date, 25 are missing, the news release said.
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