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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| 'Army of Islam' claims responsibility for Johnston's abduction |
| 2007-05-09 |
| Demands release of Muslim prisoners from British prisons Not the fun loving bunch of happy go lucky guys you thought they were, huh, Alan? Gaza - Ma'an - More than two months after British BBC journalist Alan Johnston was abducted by gunmen in the Gaza Strip, the 'Jaish al-Islam', or 'Army of Islam', has claimed responsibility for his abduction. A spokesman of the army announced in a videotape, distributed in Gaza, their responsibility for Johnston's abduction and demanding the release of "the Muslim prisoners in the British prisons, primarily the Palestinian Abu Qatada". The abducted journalist did not appear in the videotape and the spokesman did not present any other details. So this could be...bullshit? According to Al-Jazeera International, the kidnappers continued in the tape, "and in this regard we do not forget our prisoners in other infidel countries and we say to all of them free our prisoners or we will do the same to you. We wonÂ’t make an exception for anyone. If you need money to release our prisoners we will give you all you need up to the last dirham we have," the tape continues, according to Al-Jazeera. What's a dirham worth in real money? The BBC has said that it is investigating the contents of the tape. "We are aware of the tape released by the Army of Islam concerning our Gaza correspondent, Alan Johnston. We have no comment on the demands made of the British government in the tape - we remain concerned for Alan's well-being and call for his immediate release," a BBC statement reads. The BBC report adds that the videotape, received by Al-Jazeera in Gaza, also apparently shows pictures of Johnston's BBC identity card. The Army of Islam appeared in the Gaza Strip nearly one year ago when it announced its participation in the abduction of the Israeli soldier Gil'ad Shalit on 25 June 2007. Abu Qatada is under a worldwide embargo from the United Nations Security Council for his affiliation with al Qaeda. He is wanted on terrorism charges in Algeria, the United States, Belgium, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, and Jordan. He has been detained in British custody in the UK since his most recent arrest in August 2005, shortly after the London underground bombings. A British court ruled in February of this year that he may be deported to Jordan, but appeals are still pending. |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #4 I feel no more pity for the man than if the Nazis had sent Lord Haw Haw to the camps. Good riddance to bad rubbish. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2007-05-09 15:30 |
| #3 The headline would have been cooler if it read, "'Army of Islam' claims to have abducted Alan" (even better if the reporter spelt his name with two Ls |
| Posted by: mhw 2007-05-09 12:52 |
| #2 What's a dirham worth in real money? About a quarter. From Wikipedia: On 28 January 1978, the dirham was officially pegged to the IMF's Special Drawing Rights (SDRs)[2]. In practice, it is pegged to the U.S. dollar for most of the time[3]. Since November 1997, the dirham has been pegged to the 1 U.S. dollar = 3.6725 dirhams[4], which translates to approximately 1 dirham = 0.272294 dollar. |
| Posted by: Thinemp Whimble 2007-05-09 11:35 |
| #1 I am sorry about Johnston and ever more sorry about Shalit, Goldwasser et al. Should be a good lesson to the BBC (and maybe to the Guardian and to the Journalist association) not to send people to Gaza and to impose a complete gag order on Gaza and the West Bank. No more publicity about the plight of anybody........... |
| Posted by: Caesar Hupaise9769 2007-05-09 11:29 |