UK News
Journalists mark Press Freedom Day with calls for Johnston release
May 3, 2007, 15:43 GMT
London - Journalists around the world took part in rallies on World Press Freedom Day Thursday to demand the release of Alan Johnston, the veteran BBC correspondent abducted in Gaza City 53 days ago.
Journalists of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in London held vigils and protests the broadcaster's headquarters. Vigils were also staged by journalists in China and Indonesia, the BBC said.
Later Thursday, a rally was to take place at headquarters of the United Nations in New York.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has expressed alarm at the growing trend of journalists being targeted and said he had followed with 'dismay' the case of Johnston.
The 44-year-old correspondent, who was permanently based in Gaza City, was abducted as he left his office on March 12.
The Palestinian government has said that Johnston is alive, but that his kidnappers have made 'demands' for his release.
These are reported to include the release of a female Iraqi would-be suicide bomber jailed in Jordan after failing to blow herself up in an attack on a wedding party in a hotel in Amman.
Most kidnap victims in the Gaza Strip have in the past been released, but Johnston has become the longest-held foreign hostage in Gaza.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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