U.S. Muslim Leaders Call for Release of Journalist In Iraq

CAIR

Posted Jan 20, 2006      •Permalink      • Printer-Friendly Version
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U.S. MUSLIM LEADERS CALL FOR RELEASE OF JOURNALIST IN IRAQ


(WASHINGTON, D.C., 1/19/2006) - A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today issued a joint statement by dozens of American Muslim leaders, scholars and organizations* calling for the release of journalist Jill Carroll who was abducted recently in Iraq while on assignment for the Christian Science Monitor newspaper.

The joint declaration, coordinated by the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), states:

“We, the undersigned representatives of the American Muslim community, call for the immediate and unconditional release of Jill Carroll, a journalist with a well-documented record of objective reporting and respect for both the Iraqi people and Arab-Islamic culture.

“We ask that her captors show mercy and compassion by releasing her so that she may return to her family. Certainly, no cause can be advanced by harming a person who only sought to let the world know about the human suffering caused by the conflict in Iraq.”

Carroll’s kidnappers threaten to kill her by Friday unless U.S. military authorities release all Iraqi women in their custody. (Iraqi officials say that six of the eight women being held by coalition forces in Iraq will be released.)

A CAIR delegation is on its way to Iraq to make a public appeal for Carroll’s release. The delegation will hold an initial news conference today in Amman, Jordan. A second news conference will be held in Baghdad on Friday.

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