Newspaper asks kidnappers to show that writer is alive
Posted on 02/03/2002 2:07:34 PM PST by MeekOneGOP
Newspaper asks kidnappers to show that writer is alive
Reports are conflicting on journalist's fate
02/03/2002
KARACHI, Pakistan - The Wall Street Journal appealed Saturday to the kidnappers of reporter Daniel Pearl to show evidence that he is still alive, after an all-night search of Karachi graveyards turned up nothing.
Mr. Pearl's wife and an American Muslim group issued separate appeals for his release, and e-mails purportedly sent Saturday by the kidnappers gave conflicting accounts of his fate.
An e-mail received Friday by U.S. news organizations claimed that Mr. Pearl, 38, had been killed and his body dumped in an unspecified cemetery in this city of 12 million people. He was abducted in Karachi on Jan. 23 while working on a story about a Muslim extremist group.
After an exhaustive search, Pakistani officials and the Journal concluded that the e-mail was a hoax and expressed hope that the newspaper's South Asian bureau chief was alive.
The last e-mail that included pictures of Mr. Pearl was received Wednesday by Pakistani and American news organizations. The Journal urged the kidnappers to free Mr. Pearl or at least resume contact.
"We urge them to release Danny," Managing Editor Paul Steiger said in New York. "If that is not possible, we call on them to demonstrate that Danny remains alive. They can do this by providing us with a photo of Danny holding today's newspaper."
Police said they believed a ransom demand, telephoned to U.S. diplomats Friday, also was a hoax. The caller demanded a $2 million ransom and the release of a former Taliban diplomat.
In Islamabad, senior police officials said Saturday night that a man had been arrested on charges of placing the telephone call, The New York Times reported. Officials described the man as a low-level employee of an air-conditioning manufacturing company in the industrial section of the capital and were not specific about whether they regarded his demand as credible.
Mr. Pearl's French wife, Marianne, is six months pregnant with their first child. In a letter published Saturday in the Urdu language newspaper Jang, she asked the kidnappers to free her husband "as people inspired by Islam's ethics."
"I ask them to be people who have the courage to actually take the first step to end this cycle of suffering," she said. "Let real justice win. Maybe because you have suffered so much, because you are crying so much for justice, maybe you are the first ones to implement justice."
In Washington, the Council on American-Islamic Relations joined in the appeals for Mr. Pearl's release.
"We call for the immediate and unconditional release of Daniel Pearl and an end to the targeting of journalists in any area of the world," board chairman Omar Ahmad said in a written statement. "Such actions by those claiming to act on behalf of Muslims are in sharp contradiction to Islamic teachings and violate the internationally accepted neutral status of journalists during times of conflict."
At the State Department, spokesman Frederick Jones said U.S. diplomats were working with Pakistan "to obtain Mr. Pearl's immediate and unconditional release" because his detention "is no help to the cause of those who hold him."
Police reported several more arrests, including the father and other relatives of a key suspect a member of an extremist group whose family reported that he had recently died in Afghanistan. Officials refused to say whether they were closer to finding Mr. Pearl.
Saturday's developments came amid conflicting reports about Mr. Pearl's fate.
In an unsigned e-mail sent Thursday to Western and Pakistani media, the purported kidnappers said: "We will give you one more day. If America will not meet our demands, we will kill Daniel. Then this cycle will continue and no American journalist could enter Pakistan."
Adding to the confusion, an e-mail sent Saturday to news organizations claimed responsibility for Thursday's message but said it was fabricated.
"Please pardon me! It was a fake mail. It also reveals another fact that the last mail is also a fake mail. I had a big burden on my conscience," the message said.
The e-mail, which bore a similar address to Thursday's message, said Mr. Pearl "is [may be] alive" and urged authorities to speed efforts to free him.
A second e-mail, sent to some news organizations, repeated claims that Mr. Pearl had been killed and his body dumped "in a graveyard." It dismissed reports of a $2 million ransom demand as U.S. "propaganda."
You talkin' 'bout THIS fella?:
That's from your Profile.
Now, I haven't seen you wearing THIS if that's true!:
But of course! Do you have any Grey Poupon?? :o)
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