Free Daniele Mastrogiacomo - He Is Only A Journalist
The Repubblica correspondent Daniele Mastrogiacomo has been kidnapped in Afghanistan, where he was simply carrying out his work as a journalist, in search of news. His newspaper has published a message in Italian, English, Arabic, Pashtu and Farsi. Voices of support and solidarity are arriving from all over the world. If you would like to add your signature, click here. Here is the text of the appeal: “Daniele Mastrogiacomo is a Repubblica journalist. He has no links of any kind to any military organisation, nor to any secret police or intelligence services of any kind, or of any country. Mastrogiacomo has been in Kandahar since Sunday the 4th March exclusively and solely to write news reports.”
“Daniele Mastrogiacomo is a Repubblica journalist. He has no links of any kind to any military organisation, nor to any secret police or intelligence services of any kind, or of any country. Mastrogiacomo has been in Afghanistan since the 28th February and, more precisely, in Kandahar since Sunday 4th March, exclusively and solely to write news reports”. This message appears on the pages of Repubblica’s website. The director of the newspaper, Ezio Mauro, has published the statement in Italian and English, but also in Arabic, Pashtu and Farsi, in immediate response to the message sent to the Pakistani office of France Press, allegedly from the Taliban leader Mullah Dadaullah, which claimed that Mastrogiacomo had confessed to being a spy working in collaboration with British Secret Services.
Mauro’s message aims to clarify for all, and especially those who might accuse Mastrogiacomo of playing an active role in the Afghan conflict, that the Italian kidnapped in Kandahar is nothing other than a journalist. Beside the director’s multi-lingual declaration, Repubblica has published an appeal for his liberation entitled ‘Free him – he is a journalist’. From all over the world expressions of support and solidarity are arriving, especially from journalists’ associations who declare their active participation in willing the prompt release of Mastrogiacomo. Amongst these is the message of Reporters Senza Frontiere which reads: “Daniele Mastrogiacomo is not a spy, but a journalist, someone who was carrying out his work as a reporter. We make a formal appeal for his release.”
Many people participated in the demonstration organised by the city council and the Associazione Stampa Romana (Rome Press Association), on the morning of the 8th March. Aside from the many journalists, there were also members of the Italian Afghan community were present, along with the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Fausto Bertinotti, and the Mayor of Rome – who announced he would make a visit to the capital’s mosque to emphasise the importance and necessity of inter-cultural dialogue. A network of solidarity has been activated around Daniele Mastrogiacomo, an active international network of colleagues, and others, of people calling out for the freedom of individuals to carry out their work, the freedom to report the truth, and the freedom to be journalists.
Translated by Liz Longden
