Deadline passes for US reporter held in Iraq

In Iraq, a deadline set by the kidnappers of American journalist Jill Carroll has passed with no word on her fate. The reporter’s captors said on Tuesday they would kill her unless Iraqi female detainees were freed within 72 hours. The hostage’s father has appeared on Arabic television, pleading for his daughter’s release.

Among those joining the appeal are French Muslim leaders at the Grand Mosque of Paris. Journalist and former hostage Florence Aubenas also spoke out. “She’s a journalist there to do her job,” said Aubenas. “The captors asked me why I was there and can I prove I’m a journalist. Obviously you have no proof but your word. I hope they believe her, just as they believed me.” Influential Sunni Arab leader, Adnan Dulaimi, has also called for the release of Carroll, a freelance reporter for the Christian Science Monitor newspaper.

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