Posted on 03/29/2003 5:22:31 PM PST by HAL9000
MELVILLE, N.Y. (AP) -- Two Newsday journalists who disappeared from Baghdad may have been detained by Iraq's government, the newspaper's editor said Saturday.Reporter Matthew McAllester and photographer Moises Saman were last heard from Monday, and the newspaper has been unable to obtain information about their whereabouts from Iraqi officials, said editor Anthony Marro in a statement.
Journalists expelled from Iraq have told Newsday that security officials on Monday came to the Baghdad hotel where they were staying and questioned reporters. Some were taken from the hotel.
No one saw McAllester and Saman removed, but their room was empty when a friend went to check on them. Monday morning, Iraqi security officials asked questions about McAllester's and Saman's activities, Newsday has been told.
"Mr. McAllester and Mr. Saman were in Baghdad for only one purpose -- to report the news for Newsday," Marro said. "We appeal to Iraqi officials to explain their whereabouts, to allow us to contact them directly and to allow their safe passage out of Iraq."
Newsday has asked the Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations to help find out what happened to McAllester, 33, and Saman, 29.
The Committee to Protect Journalists is assisting the paper, as is the Vatican through its representatives in Baghdad.
A freelance photojournalist from Louisville, Molly Bingham, also is unaccounted for.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Hope the reporters are o.k.
Concern grows for Louisville nativePhotographer in Baghdad not heard from in days
LOUISVILLE (AP) — Freelance photographer Molly Bingham, a Louisville native who had been in Baghdad since March 17, has not been heard from in several days.
"I'm very concerned," said Barry Bingham Jr., Molly Bingham's father and former publisher of The Courier-Journal.
On Wednesday he told The Courier-Journal that he last heard from his 34-year-old daughter in a brief e-mail received Saturday
Right,... only if it happens to one of their own. Daniel Perle seemed like a wake up call to them, but how quickly they have forgotten.
Prayers for these reporters.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.