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

"She was released this morning, she's talked to her father and she's fine" Jill Carroll has been released and is safe. [newsfilter]
posted by stilgar on Mar 30, 2006 - 79 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

The body of Tom Fox (a Quaker peace activist and Christian Peacemaker Team member who was abducted [previous MeFi discussion] by insurgents last November) has been found in Baghdad.
posted by the_bone on Mar 11, 2006 - 64 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

Tom Fox, a Quaker peaceworker, abducted in Iraq with three others. He understood the risks, accepted them, and now must "stand firm against the kidnapper as... against the soldier". His friends and supporters are calling for the hostages to be released, making it clear that they "[do] not advocate the use of violent force" to save lives.
posted by dsword on Dec 2, 2005 - 29 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