Campaign for missing British journalist Alan Johnston

Campaigning is being stepped up in Gaza for the release of BBC journalist Alan Johnston, missing since 12 March, as many Palestinian journalists held a 24-hour strike yesterday and several private and public Palestinian news agencies responded to Reporters Without Borders' call to post a banner urging his release on their websites. “It is ten days now that we have had no news of Alan Johnston. We express our solidarity with his family and his news organisation, who are living with terrible anxiety,” the worldwide press freedom organisation said. “The positive outcome of previous kidnappings of journalists on the Gaza strip does not in any way give reason for passivity. It is urgent to keep campaigning for his earliest possible release.” In the UK, Foreign Minister, Margaret Beckett, said she had “opened all channels of communication to speed up the release of the journalist” and European Union Secretary General, Javier Solana, also repeated the EU's commitment to resolving the case. Elsewhere, the reporter's father, Graham Johnston, has appealed to his kidnappers saying the abduction was “no way to treat a friend of the Palestinian people.” “This holding Alan is not doing the Palestinian people any favours, quite the opposite. All I can say to the men who are holding Alan is: please let my son go, now, today,” he said in a plea broadcast by the BBC and relayed by Palestinian TV stations. No group has admitted responsibility for the journalist's abduction. -------------------------------------------------------------- 19.03.2007 Renewed effort on behalf of British journalist held in Gaza for past week One week after BBC correspondent Alan Johnston's abduction in Gaza, Reporters Without Borders today urged everyone to step up the campaign for his release and invited Arabic-language news media and bloggers to post a banner on their websites calling for him to be freed. “We appeal to all Palestinian and Arab media and bloggers to condemn Johnston's kidnapping, which once again highlights the difficulties that foreign journalists working in the Gaza Strip must face,” the press freedom organisation said. “The silence surrounding this kidnapping is particularly worrying.” A total of 14 foreign journalists have been kidnapped in the Gaza Strip since August 2005. Most of them were freed quickly and were not hurt. One of the goals of a Reporters Without Borders fact-finding visit to the Palestinian Territories in December 2006 was to identify the reasons for these kidnappings. It emerged that in most cases the kidnappers used the hostages as bargaining chips to obtain work or to obtain the release of friends held in Palestinian prisons. Johnston, who is the BBC's main correspondent in Gaza, was kidnapped on 12 March as he was leaving his office to go home. His abductors intercepted his car and forced him to go with them. No group has claimed responsibility for the abduction, which has been condemned by President Mahmud Abbas, Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh and the heads of the leading Palestinian political movements. Nonetheless, government spokesman Ghazi Hamad told journalists that the authorities had information about the kidnappers, although they did not know where Johnston was being held. Aged 44, Johnston has been covering the Palestinian Territories for the BBC for three years. His colleagues say he took many precautions whenever moving about and had cut back on his movements, especially at night. Some 20 Palestinian journalists gathered outside the parliament on 17 March to demand his release. Johnston's employers also reiterated a call for his release in a statement today. “Over the past week, we have worked intensively with the authorities in Gaza and elsewhere to try to locate Alan,” the BBC said. “However, it is disappointing that after seven days there has still been no firm word. We call on everyone with influence on this situation to redouble their efforts.” At a news conference in Gaza today, BBC Jerusalem bureau chief Simon Wilson announced that he is to meet with the Hani Al Kawasami, the interior minister of the new national unity government. To download the web banner in support of Alan Johnston in arabic in gif format, click on the icon that matches the size you would like (728*90 - 468 *60 - 200*200) and then right click to save. The redirection URL is: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=21349