Sam Hengel, a 15-year-old student at Marinette High School in Wisconsin, held a classroom of 23 students and a teacher hostage on Monday, November 28th. Without making any demands from police, Hengel released the hostages and shot himself. Early Tuesday morning, Hengel died in the hospital. (
1,
2)
[more inside]
posted by MHPlost
on Nov 30, 2010 -
95 comments
On a reporting trip to Afghanistan in November of 2008, New York Times reporter
David Rohde and two of his colleagues were kidnapped by the Taliban. After being held captive for seven months in the mountains of Afghanistan and Northern Pakistan, David and one of his colleagues escaped in the middle of the night and made their way to freedom. He recounts the story in a five part series:
Held by the Taliban.
[more inside]
posted by Merik
on Oct 21, 2009 -
22 comments
A complex situation has arisen in the Southern Ocean where the Japanese Whaling fleet run by The Institute of Cetacean Research is attempting to slaughter nearly a thousand whales for the much scoffed at purpose of scientific research.
Greenpeace located the fleet and claims to have
chased the whalers out of hunting grounds. An Australian Federal Court judgement meanwhile has ruled the expedition illegal and imposed an injunction against the illegal whaling in Australian waters. The Japanese do not recognise Australia's claim. The Japanese responded by ignoring the judgement. Now
Sea Shephard an activist group have put two of their members aboard a Japanese Ship and claims they were
tied to the mast. Despite the
Japanese Government saying the activists would be released the
ships captain refuses to do so.
Recent related post.
posted by dodialog
on Jan 16, 2008 -
69 comments
Colombia's
FARC rebels hold over 3000 current hostages, including soldiers,
lawmakers,
presidential candidates,
Americans,
Canadians,
Japanese, a
Turk, 291 children (including one born in captivity who is the
youngest hostage in the world), and a disillusioned
Dutch convert whose diary was recently discovered. Family members of the kidnapped can send messages to their loved ones on a
popular radio show. More about Colombian kidnappings in Silvana Paternostro's captivating memoir
My Colombian War.
posted by mert
on Nov 26, 2007 -
8 comments
Iranian envoy wounds 'confirmed': The head of the International Red Cross in Tehran, Peter Stoeker, says he saw wounds on an Iranian diplomat who has alleged that US forces in Iraq tortured him. There were marks on Jalal Sharafi's feet, legs, back and nose. [
photos].
On 4 February soldiers from the Iraqi army 36th Commando battalion in Baghdad, considered to be under American control, had seized Jalal Sharafi, while he was
carrying a videogame, a gift for his daughter. Read more about the US secret operations against Iranians in Iraq in
an exclusive report by The Independent.
posted by hoder
on Apr 11, 2007 -
49 comments
Releaed British navy commander: We were gathering intelligence on Iran (
Watch the interview)
Tony Blair: The sailors were on a legitimate UN mandate
The Observer: The MoD confirmed last night that the Iranians had made the claim that they had become interested in Cornwall's activities after learning about it on British television, but denied the decision to allow the ship's crew to be interviewed while on active duty had jeopardised the mission.
posted by hoder
on Apr 8, 2007 -
30 comments
Freed and ungrateful? "Norman Kember, the freed peace activist, will arrive back in Britain today amid growing controversy over his failure publicly to thank the military forces who rescued him."
"Rescued British hostage Norman Kember yesterday
refused to fly home from Iraq in a RAF military jet." Kember is a member of the Christian Peacemaker Teams:
Committed to reducing violence by "getting in the way".
This is not the first controversy regarding western hostages freed in Iraq.
Former kidnap victim Susanne Osthoff
kept parts of the ransom money:
"Politicians and the public were yesterday asking new questions about her ordeal. Many have lost patience with Miss Osthoff, a convert to Islam, since she declared her intention to return to Iraq and failed to thank them for their efforts to free her."
Former kidnap victim
Giuliana Sgrena was accused of
cooperating with her abductors.
posted by iviken
on Mar 25, 2006 -
59 comments
We Negotiate With Terrorists. With an abrupt move opposite of stated policy, abducted American journalist Jill Carroll's life may have been saved by the US military yielding to the demands of her captors. Have gender, politics, and media coverage become factors erroding the mantra that the US Government
formally states?
posted by trick
on Jan 26, 2006 -
44 comments
An online psycho (or entrepreneurial genius?) says he's holding a bunny, named Toby, hostage unless charitable animal lovers donate $50,000 to his paypal account. Otherwise, he'll butcher it. So far, he's got $14,000.
posted by nospecialfx
on Feb 17, 2005 -
59 comments
Iraqi militants claimed...to have taken an American soldier hostage and threatened
to behead him... The posting, on a Web site that frequently carried militants' statements,
included a photo of what that statement said was an American soldier,
wearing desert fatigues and seated on a concrete floor with his hands tied behind his back.
The figure in the photo appeared stiff and expressionless...
Looks
like
a
bunch
of
newspapers
got
duped.
posted by furtive
on Feb 1, 2005 -
32 comments
The Voyage of Terry Waite's Clogs I first saw this a couple of days ago and the more I think about the logistics and reasoning behind this the stranger it becomes. I like the fact this probably wouldn't happen in any other country than England, but all the same you do have to wonder why it happened.
For those non-Brits Terry Waite was the Archbishop of Canterbury's envoy to Beirut in the 80s and was held hostage for 5 years by a militant islamic group.
posted by jontyjago
on Nov 15, 2002 -
10 comments
Russian Forces Set Hostages Free. Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Vasilyev said about three dozen of the estimated 50 hostage-takers had been killed and Federal Security Service director Nikolai Patrushev said, contrary to earlier reports, that none of the gunmen had escaped. Terrorism loses again.
posted by David Dark
on Oct 26, 2002 -
93 comments
Life imitates "
art" as the singer for Brazilian rockers
ACC storms the studio, so to speak, and forces a DJ to play his band's record over and over for an hour. Are things really this desperate?
posted by mikrophon
on Sep 19, 2002 -
12 comments
Terrorism takes the world stage
30 years ago today, armed terrorists took 11 Israeli athletes hostage at the Munich Olympics. Did anyone see this past weekend's ABC News
documentary on it? The Academy Award winning
film? This is an utterly fascinating story, in my opinion. Even today, people are
puzzling over just how much went wrong.
posted by Gilbert
on Sep 5, 2002 -
8 comments
Daniel Pearl's widow speaks out. "Revenge would be easy, but it is far more valuable in my opinion to address this problem of terrorism with enough honesty to question our own responsibility as nations and as individuals for the rise of terrorism." (via the indispensable
rc3.org)
posted by jjg
on Feb 22, 2002 -
12 comments
Bank robbery in progress: You can probably watch it live on TV right now. Six schools close to the bank have been shut down, and the FBI is negotiating for the hostages to be released.
posted by ktheory
on Sep 4, 2001 -
4 comments
