Great concern after Al-Jazeera shows video of Romanians with threats by abductors

Reporters Without Borders and its Romanian partner organization, the Media Monitoring Agency (MMA), voiced "enormous concern" and reiterated their support for the families of the three Romanian journalists held hostage in Iraq after the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera TV station broadcast a new video of them today and said their abductors are threatening to kill them if Romania does not pull out its troops from Iraq in four days. "We feel great anxiety at the sight of these three hostages handcuffed, thin, barefoot and with guns pointed at their heads," the two organizations said. "We share the agony being felt by their families, friends and media colleagues. We reiterate our confidence in the Romanian authorities who, we are convinced, are doing everything possible to find a solution. By demanding the withdrawal of Romania's troops from Iraq, kidnappers are once again putting journalists at the centre of an unbearable act of blackmail." Reporters Without Borders and MMA added: "Marie-Jeanne Ion, Sorin Dumitru Miscoci and Eduard Ovidiu Ohanesian are not spies and should not have to bear the consequences of a governmental decision. We call on the abductors to make a distinction between essential work in the field by journalists and Romania's political decisions." The poor-quality video broadcast by Al-Jazeera today showed the journalists for the first since the video that was released the day after their abduction on 28 March. Their abductors, who are calling themselves "The Brigade of Mouadh Ibn Jabal," gave the Romanian government four days from today to withdraw its troops, failing which the hostages would be killed. Al-Jazeera reported that, in the video, Ion called on the Romanian people to protest in order to pressure the Romanian government. A separate sequence showed the fourth hostage, Mohamed Munaf, who was acting as the journalists' guide, calling on US President Georges W. Bush to intervene to ensure his release. Ion, 32, a reporter with the Bucharest-based television station Prima TV, Miscoci, 30, a Prima TV cameraman, and Ohanesian, a reporter with the privately-owned newspaper Romania Libera, were kidnapped with their guide on 28 March, five days after arriving in Iraq.