Demonstration at Grand Mosque of Paris in support of Iraq hostage Jill Carroll

With the ultimatum given by the kidnappers of US journalist Jill Carroll due to expire this evening, a demonstration in support of Carroll was held today at the Grand Mosque of Paris by Reporters Without Borders, mosque rector Dalil Boubakeur and former French hostages Florence Aubenas, Roger Auque, Jean-Jacques Le Garrec, Roland Madura and Ivan Cerieix. Calling for Carroll's release, the participants pointed that today's demonstration was being held exactly one year after a similar show of support for Aubenas, who was finally freed and was able to take part today, and they said they hoped that today's appeal would also be heard by those holding Carroll in Iraq. On 17 January, the Qatar-based satellite TV station Al Jazeera broadcast a video of Carroll in captivity and reported that her abductors had threatened to kill her if all the female detainees in Iraq were not freed within 72 hours. The deadline expires this evening. Carroll is a freelance reporter who has been writing for several Jordanian, Italian and US newspapers, including the Christian Science Monitor. She was kidnapped by gunmen at about 10 a.m. on 7 January in the west Baghdad neighbourhood of Adel, where she had expected to meet with a Sunni politician, Adnan al-Doulaimi. The body of her interpreter, Allan Enwiyah, was found at the scene of the abduction. He had been shot dead. A total of 55 journalists and 22 media assistants have been killed in Iraq since the start of the war in March 2003. Of these 77 victims, 56 (73 per cent) were Iraqi and four (5 per cent) were American. Thirty-five media workers have been abducted since the start of the war. Five of the kidnap victims - four Iraqis (Raeda Wazzan, Houssam Hilal Sarsam, Ahmed Hussein Al Maliki and Ahmed Jabbar Hashim) and an Italian (Enzo Baldoni) - were killed by their abductors. The others were all released safe and sound. Twenty-three of these kidnappings have taken place in or near Baghdad. Jill Carroll is the seventh woman journalist to be kidnapped in Iraq. Despite its name, the Boston-based Christian Science Monitor is not a religious newspaper. It is well known for the quality and thoroughness of both its international and domestic coverage.