Video shows Romanian journalists, Reporters Without Borders organised news conference in Paris

Reporters Without Borders and its Romanian partner organization, the Media Monitoring Agency (MMA), organised a news conference at 9:30 a.m, 1 April, at the Foreign Press Centre (CAPE, Maison de Radio-France - 116, avenue du Président-Kennedy - Paris 16e) about Marie-Jeanne Ion, Sorin Dumitru Miscoci, and Eduard Ovidiu Ohanesian, the three Romanian journalists who were kidnapped on 28 March in Baghdad. This initiative follows the screening last night by the pan-Arab TV news station Al-Jazeera of a video showing the three journalists alive. At the news conference, Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard and MMA programme officer Razvan Martin announced a number of initiatives aimed at generating international support and actions for the immediate release of the three hostages. Serge July, the managing editor of the French daily Libération (whose correspondent, Florence Aubenas, has been held hostage in Irak since 5 January), also participated in the news conference in order to express his solidarity with his Romanian colleagues. This news conference coincided with a meeting of the Reporters Without Borders international council, attended by representatives of the press freedom organization in countries in all parts of the world. Founded in 1994, the Media Monitoring Agency is a Romanian human rights organization specializing in the news media. Its chief goals are to promote quality news media, defend the right to free expression and free access to information, develop anti-corruption programmes and defend the access of minorities to the news media. Ion, a reporter with the Romanian television station Prima TV, Miscoci, a Prima TV cameraman, and Ohanesian, a reporter with the privately-owned newspaper Romania Libera, were kidnapped on 28 March, five days after arriving in Iraq. Prima TV said they received a call from Ion at the moment that she and her colleagues were being kidnapped. They said they thought "she was trying to explain to the kidnappers that it would be useless to do this as they were just Romanian journalists who did not have money for any ransom." The conversation between the TV crew and the abductors was conducted partly in English and partly in Arabic, Prima TV said in a statement. "Marie-Jeanne also tried to let us know in Romanian that they had been kidnapped and that we should immediately alert the Romanian embassy in Baghdad." Several Romanian news media reported that, a few minutes later, Ion also managed to send a telephone text message to her mother that said: "We have been kidnapped. It is not a joke. Help us." The video screened last night by Al-Jazeera showed the three journalists with an Iraqi-American businessman who was kidnapped at the same time. Speaking in English, Ion said the kidnappers had not demanded a ransom. The video also showed two men wearing keffiyeh headdress who were pointing their guns at the hostages. The head of Prima TV, Dan Dumitru, said he was pleased to see them alive. For more information, contact Reporters Without Borders at +33 1 4483-8472 or by e-mail at [email protected]