March 06, 2007

Taliban Kidnap Italian Reporter, Two Others

Taliban terrorists have kidnapped an Italian journalist in Afghanistan and have charged him with "spying for the British". The Taliban claim to be holding two other hostage as well. Still, it's reassuring to know that the British newspaper, The Telegraph, finds it convenient to call the Taliban "guerrillas".

When organizations capture and then murder hostages, they cease to be within the normal bounds of civilized behavior. You don't have to call them terrorists, but something along those lines---barbaric pricks in need of immediate life termination---will do.

The journalist's kidnapping comes on the heels of a large-scale military offensive in Afghanistan, Operation Achilles.

The Telegraph:

The Taliban says it has kidnapped an Italian journalist who it claimed was spying for British troops in southern Afghanistan, along with two Afghan colleagues.

Guerrilla spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said the reporter worked for La Repubblica.

Speaking by satellite phone from an undisclosed location, he said the reporter had confessed to spying after being picked up in neighbouring Helmand province yesterday.

He added: "He was pretending to be a journalist, but when we investigated we found he's working for the British troops.

"We're interrogating him and the other two."

"We have not heard from him since Sunday, he was in Kandahar on assignment," said the paper's editor-in-chief, Ezio Mauro, according to La Repubblica's Web site. Kandahar is the Taliban's former stronghold in the country's volatile south.....

La Repubblica newspaper said Mastrogiacomo, 52, was born in Karachi, Pakistan, where his father was an engineer for an Italian company. He has dual Italian-Swiss citizenship, but was traveling only with his Italian passport, the paper said.

Mastrogiacomo has worked since 2002 as a staff correspondent in Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, Gaza, Lebanon and Iraq.

The most troubling aspect of the story is the claim by the Taliban that Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo is "spying" for the British. The area he was captured in has a large British contingent, but when Islamists accuse a hostage of "spying" it is usually a prelude to his murder.

The Committee to Protect Journalists notes:

Initial reports of a journalist’s abduction included conflicting information. In Afghanistan, a Taliban spokesman told AP that the group had detained an unnamed Briton and two Afghan assistants in Helmand province. The spokesman said the Briton claimed to work for La Repubblica, but the paper told CPJ that only Mastrogiacomo was missing.....

[the good news] On November 3, Gabriele Torsello, an Italian freelance photographer who had been held for ransom for more than three weeks by a criminal group in Kandahar, was released unharmed.