IRAQ/ITALY: COLLEAGUE OF ITALIAN JOURNALIST GIULIANA SGRENA KIDNAPPED IN BAGHDAD EXPRESSES CONCERN FOR HER LIFE

Record ID: 588535

  • Title: IRAQ/ITALY: COLLEAGUE OF ITALIAN JOURNALIST GIULIANA SGRENA KIDNAPPED IN BAGHDAD EXPRESSES CONCERN FOR HER LIFE
  • Date: 4th February 2005
  • Summary: (EU) FILE (REUTERS) 1. BLACK AND WHITE STILL PHOTO OF GIULIANA SGRENA, ITALIAN JOURNALIST KIDNAPPED IN IRAQ 0.08 (BN10) ROME, ITALY (FEBRUARY 4, 2005) (REUTERS) 2. SIGN AT THE ENTRANCE TO IL MANIFESTO NEWSPAPER OFFICES 0.11 3. CU: SIGN OF IL MANIFESTO 0.14 4. IL MANIFESTO WORKERS TALKING ON THE PHONE (2 SHOTS) 0.20 5. JOURNALISTS HUGGING 0.27 6. CU: WEBSITE SHOWING KIDNAPPED JOURNALIST GIULIANA SGRENA'S PHOTOGRAPH 0.31 7. JOURNALISTS STANDING 0.35 8. WS: DIRECTOR OF IL MANIFESTO NEWSPAPER, GABRIELE POLO STARTING A NEWS CONFERENCE 0.38 9. (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) GABRIELE POLO, DIRECTOR OF IL MANIFESTO NEWSPAPER, SAYING: "Just before every trip we would talk about the risks that there were. I have to say Giuliana and Stefano Chiarini (Il Manifesto journalist in Baghdad), who are the journalists who travel more often to Iraq, have very good knowledge of the country. They are very careful and don't take risks." 1.03 10. NEWS CONFERENCE (2 SHOTS) 1.07 11. (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) POLO SAYING: "I don't think the Italian armed forces can do anything for this situation, like there were unable to help liberate the two Simonas (the women taken hostage in Iraq). Maybe, just maybe, the Italian and Allied armed forces are not concluding anything in general." 1.28 12. PAN: NEWS CONFERENCE 1.33 13. (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) POLO SAYING: "As you can imagine, we are in a state of great suffering. We are unhappy that Giuliana's family learnt of the kidnapping on television." 1.51 14. WIDE OF PRESS CONFERENCE 1.56 (EU) BAGHDAD, IRAQ (FEBRUARY 4, 2005) (REUTERS) 15. WS: EXTERIOR OF NAHREIN UNIVERSITY WHERE JOURNALIST WAS ABDUCTED 2.03 16. VARIOUS OF UNIVERSITY GUARDS STANDING OUTSIDE 2.11 17. CU: SIGN READING "NAHREIN UNIVERSITY' 2.16 18. MORE OF SECURITY GUARD OUTSIDE UNIVERSITY 2.26 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 19th February 2005 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BAGHDAD, IRAQ
  • City:
  • Country: Italy Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVAA9FKOGIWEUEEJQLCE4KZC2SW4
  • Story Text: Colleague of Italian journalist abducted in
    Baghdad express concern for her life.


    An Italian journalist was kidnapped in Baghdad on
    Friday (February 4) as she conducted interviews on the
    street.

    Police sources, who reported the incident, named the
    journalist as Giuliana Sgrena and said she worked for the
    Italian 'Il Manifesto' newspaper. She was interviewing
    people near Nahrain University with an Iraqi journalist and
    a driver when unknown gunmen snatched her along with her
    vehicle.

    The police sources said the kidnappers drove their car
    alongside the Italian's car then forced the Iraqi
    journalist and the driver out at gunpoint and drove off
    with Sgrena in the vehicle. The Iraqis then raised the
    alarm.

    In Rome, dozens of journalists gathered at the
    headquarters of Il Manifesto, a national left-wing daily.

    Gabriele Polo, the newspaper director, said he and the rest
    of Sgrena's colleagues are deeply concerned about Sgrena's
    fate but added that she is an experienced journalised who
    knows the area well.

    "I have to say Giuliana and Stefano Chiarini (Il Manifesto
    journalist in Baghdad), who are the journalists
    who travel more often to Iraq, have very good knowledge of
    the country, there are very careful and don't take risks,"
    said Polo.

    He express the feelings of the people who work of Il
    Manifesto.

    "As you can imagine, we are in a state of great
    suffering. We are unhappy that Giuliana's family learnt of
    the kidnapping on television," Polo said.

    Two Italian aid workers were snatched in Baghdad last
    September and threatened with death before being released
    unharmed three weeks later.

    Another Italian journalist, Enzo Baldoni, was abducted in
    August by an organisation calling itself the Islamic Army
    in Iraq. He was killed after Rome refused to give in to the
    group's demand that it withdraw its nearly 3,000 troops
    from Iraq.

    A French journalist, Florence Aubenas, was snatched
    from her vehicle in Baghdad in January and is still being
    held.

    Sgrena, who has also written for the German newspaper
    'Die Zeit', stayed in Baghdad during the war in 2003 and
    frequently returned to Iraq to report there. She has also
    covered stories in Afghanistan.



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