|
Appeal for Kidnap Victims' Release
|
Progressive Portal
|
Sep 09, 2004 15:30 PDT
|
WORKERS SEIZED FROM GROUP THAT HAS BEEN A LEADING VOICE
IN OPPOSING SANCTIONS, WAR, AND OCCUPATION OF IRAQ
[From the Middle East Children's Alliance <http://www.mecaforpeace.org>
and Focus on the Global South <http://www.focusweb.org>]
Two Italian women, an Iraqi woman, and an Iraqi man employed by a
humanitarian, anti-occupation organization were dragged from their
office in central Baghdad by armed intruders on Tue, 7 Sep 2004.
Simona Pari and Simona Torretta, both 29-year-old Italian women, and
Ra'ad Ali Abdul Azziz and Mahnaz Bassam, Iraqi men, are on the staff of
Un Ponte Per Baghdad (A Bridge to Baghdad), an independent Italian
humanitarian organization that has been working in Iraq since 1992. At
that time, other humanitarian organizations, bowing to the sanctions
imposed on Iraq after the first Gulf War, refused to operate in the
country, but A Bridge defied the embargo in the belief that the
suffering of civilians should not be used as a political bargaining
chip. Later, it initiated similar programs in Yugoslavia, in Palestinian
refugee camps in Lebanon, and in Turkish Kurdistan.
During the run-up to the United States-led invasion in 2003 and since,
the group has played a leading role in mobilizing Italian public opinion
against the war and occupation, and particularly against the Berlusconi
government's policy of support for U.S. policy. The group maintains
links with anti-war organizations around the world, and helped to
establish the Occupation Watch Center in Baghdad, a center for
monitoring the occupation founded by anti-war organizations from various
countries. It has also helped build the capacity of local Iraqi
organizations to document and report cases of human-rights abuses
committed by occupation forces.
In April of this year, A Bridge organized a humanitarian convoy that
delivered food, water, blood, and medicine to civilians under siege in
Fallujah. In August, the group provided aid and assistance to Iraqis
caught in the crossfire as U.S. and Iraqi "interim government" forces
mounted their offensive on Najaf.
In short, A Bridge is by no means a tool of the Italian government or a
cover for the U.S. occupation, and the kidnap victims are not enemies of
the Iraqi people. Torretta, chief of A Bridge's operations in Iraq, has
spent a third of her life there. Her recent work has included
supervising projects to rehabilitate Iraq's decrepit water
infrastructure and to repair school buildings. Her colleague Pari, who
joined the group last year, is organizing educational programs for
Iraq's traumatized children. Ra'ad Ali Abdul Azziz, an engineer, runs
the group's school projects in Baghdad and Basra, while Mahnaz Bassam is
involved in its social programs.
These brave individuals stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Iraqi people
in calling for an immediate end to the occupation. Now it's time to
stand up for them: Add your name to a worldwide appeal for their
immediate release.
Take Action
-----------------------------------
1. Review the letter posted at:
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=15&ItemID=6195
2. To endorse it, send e-mail to:
free-our-@focusweb.org
Individual and organizational endorsements are sought.
More Information
-----------------------------------
A Bridge to Baghdad's English-language Web site:
http://www.unponteper.it/en
A Democracy Now! interview with A Bridge coordinator Ornella Sangiovanni
and Kathy Kelly of Voices in the Wilderness, who has worked closely with
the group:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/09/09/1358225
An account of reactions in Italy to the kidnapping:
http://www.iht.com/articles/537960.htm
|
|
 |
|
