Kidnapped Portuguese journalist freed

Reporter Carlos Raleiras, of the privately-owned radio station TSF, was released by Iraqi captors on 15 November, a day after armed men seized him in southern Iraq. He said he had not been mistreated. The kidnappers reportedly demanded a $50,000 ransom. Portuguese prime minister José Manuel Durao Barroso welcomed his release but declined comment on how it had happened. The Portuguese government said it had warned journalists that Portugal could not guarantee their safety if they went to Iraq. Raleiras said the arrest by Iraqi police of the leader of the kidnappers had led to his release. ____________________ 14.11.2003 Call for release of Portuguese journalist abducted in southern Iraq Reporters Without Borders has called for the immediate and unconditional release of Portuguese journalist Carlos Raleiras, who was attacked and kidnapped by armed men today in southern Iraq, near the border with Kuwait. The organisation also appealed to the British military forces in charge of the region to deploy all necessary resources to track down Raleiras and his abductors. "We are very concerned about this journalist's fate," Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard said. He added: "The security conditions are extremely worrying for all journalists working in Iraq and we call on all parties there - armies from the western countries, armed groups and groups of bandits - to respect the members of the press, who are observers and neutral witnesses on field mission." A special correspondent with the Portuguese commercial radio station TSF, Raleiras was in a convoy of several vehicles without military protection that was attacked by an unidentified group of armed men as it was heading towards the southern city of Basra. He reached the news agency LUSA in Lisbon by telephone several hours after going missing and said: "I have been kidnapped. The situation is very complicated. I cannot talk. I am using my radio. I have to hang up." Maria Joao Ruela, another Portuguese journalist who is a correspondent for the commercial TV station SIC, was wounded in the leg in the attack but her condition is not critical.