Journalists in Iraq are learning that having their columns online is a lifesaver – especially if they’re not pro-war or pro-occupation. Australian journalist John Martinkus was googled and released:
Iraqi militants who kidnapped a reporter in Baghdad and threatened to kill him Googled his name to investigate his work before releasing him unharmed.
Australian John Martinkus was seized early on Saturday and held for nearly 24 hours before being freed.
His executive producer at an Australian news network, Mike Carey, said that the Internet – often used by Iraqi militants to air grisly images of hostages being beheaded – probably saved Martinkus.
“They Googled him and then went onto a website and saw that he was who he was, and that was instrumental in letting him go, I think, or swinging their decision.”
Carey said the company only heard of Martinkus’s abduction after his release.
“I got a call from John saying, ‘Mate, I’m at my fixer’s house, they’ve dropped us at the fixer’s house. I’ve been kidnapped but I’m free’,” he said.
Fixers are local people employed to help journalists.
Martinkus said his kidnappers initially threatened to kill him, before checking on his background.
He said he was treated well once he had told his kidnappers he was an independent reporter not linked to the United States-led coalition in Iraq.
Canadian journalist Scott Taylor , in this interview with AntiWar.com’s Chris Deliso relates a similar story:
After torturing me, the mujahedin gave me a pen and paper and told me to write down all the Web sites that might help prove my case. Even though they told me I had “failed the test” afterwards, I’m pretty sure from their behavior that they found enough articles there to vindicate me.
A later interrogator who questioned me at length was especially interested in why I hadn’t denounced the “imperialist occupation” of Iraq. He was very clear about this word. Come on – of course I have criticized the occupation on numerous occasions.
Thinking fast, I specifically referred them to one of our earlier interviews, “The Empire Strikes Out,” as well as the other interviews on Antiwar.com and on your site, besides other articles I’ve published.
CD: So, do you think that these interviews helped persuade the mujahedin to release you?
ST: I can’t prove that, but I’ve got to think it was probably a big help. … At very least I think it kept me alive at various points when they easily could have killed me, and would have.
And technically, it was this last group with the “anti-imperialist” leader that released me. So the specific articles I gave them, plus what you get when doing a search for my name and Iraq, yeah, I got to think that it helped swing things in my favor. So … thanks.