When US journalist James Foley was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen in Northwest Syria, on November 22, 2012, his family wanted it to be kept out of the news, hoping for his safe return. Four other journalists, including Richard Engel, chief foreign affairs correspondent for NBC News were kidnapped in the same region and were freed after a battle between their captors and one of the two main Syrian rebel groups. It isn’t known if there is any connection between the kidnappings, or who has held Foley or why.
His family has now decided to go public and has set up a web site and a Facebook group to appeal for his release. Please sign the appeal on the web site and if you are on Facebook, you can ‘Like’ the group too.
You can read more about this on GlobalPost, for whom Foley had filed many reports over several years. In April 2011 on assignment for them in Libya, he was captured by Gadaffi’s forces and held in prison for 44 days before being released – and later he returned to Libya to photograph the events around the fall of Gadaffi. AFP to whom he had sent around 30 videos since March 2012 have issued a statement of solidarity with his family.
You can also see more of Foley’s work on his ‘A World of Troubles‘ web site. On its front page, as well as the appeal from the family for his release is a video he made in Aleppo a week before his capture showing home-made weapons being used by the rebels.
His Family say:
Jim is the oldest of five children. He has reported independently and objectively from the Middle East for the past five years. Prior to his work as a journalist, Jim helped empower disadvantaged individuals as a teacher and mentor assisting them in improving their lives.
The family appeals for the release of Jim unharmed.
I too hope and pray for his safe release. They feel publicity can help and we can all add our names to their petition.
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Just before Christmas, the Committee to Protect Journalists published a special report on journalists killed in 2012 which states:
Syria was by far the deadliest country in 2012, with 28 journalists killed in combat or targeted for murder by government or opposition forces. In addition, a journalist covering the Syrian conflict was killed just over the border in Lebanon. The number of fatalities related to the Syrian conflict approached the worst annual toll recorded during the war in Iraq, where 32 journalists were killed in both 2006 and 2007.
Those killed in Syria included four international journalists, Marie Colvin of the Sunday Times, French freelance photographer Rémi Ochlik, France 2 reporter Gilles Jacquier and Mika Yamamoto, a journalist for Japan Press. At least 13 of those killed were ‘citizen journalists’ and others included local professionals Abdel Karim al-Oqda of Shaam News Network, Mosaab al-Obdaallah of Tishreen and Ali Abbas of SANA. Two others, Bashar Fahmi working for Al-Hurra and Mohamed al-Saeed of Syrian State TV are missing, with unconfirmed reports that al-Saeed was beheaded. US Journalist Austin Tice has also been missing since August.
