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Bannu district – Frontline Club http://www.beta.frontlineclub.com Championing Independent Journalism Tue, 11 Dec 2012 12:50:52 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 Kidnapped journalist on video http://www.beta.frontlineclub.com/kidnapped_journalist_on_video/ http://www.beta.frontlineclub.com/kidnapped_journalist_on_video/#respond Tue, 24 Feb 2009 09:37:26 +0000 http://www.beta.frontlineclub.com/dev/?p=2562 A videotape of Beverly Giesbrecht, a freelance journalist who was kidnapped almost three months ago in the Afghanistan/Pakistan border region, surfaced on Monday according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. The reporter, who also goes by the name of Khadija Abdul Qahaar and publishes Jihad Unspun, was kidnapped in November, 2008 in the Bannu district of Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province

In the four-minute-and-43-second video, Giesbrecht says she was kidnapped by the Taliban on her second trip to the region to meet a man with a rare coin collection whom she wished to interview.

"I have been in captivity now for almost three months," she said. "I wake up in the dark and I go to sleep in the dark. There is nothing but a wood furnace and not enough wood.

"I am not sure exactly my location. I am someplace in the Afghan border area. There are air raids … This is the war zone." link

A ransom deal was reported by the English language Pakistani News International in January, 2009, but there has been no word of any payment. The Toronto Star has more on the videotape and reaction from the Canadian Journalists Association.

 

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Beverly Giesbrecht kidnapped in Pakistan http://www.beta.frontlineclub.com/beverly_giesbrecht_kidnapped_in_pakistan/ http://www.beta.frontlineclub.com/beverly_giesbrecht_kidnapped_in_pakistan/#respond Sat, 15 Nov 2008 09:24:35 +0000 http://www.beta.frontlineclub.com/dev/?p=2408

Beverly Giesbrecht, a Canadian freelance journalist also know as Khadija Abdul Qahaar, was on a commission with Al-Jazeera when she was kidnapped on Tuesday. According to a report by AFP the 52 year old was seized at gunpoint in Bannu district of Pakistan which borders Afghanistan.

"The government of Canada is aware of the kidnapping of a Canadian citizen in Pakistan," said Lisa Monette, of Foreign Affairs. "Our Canadian officials are engaged with Pakistani authorities in seeking a safe and early release." link

You can see an interview with Giesbrecht from 2007 in the video above. UPDATE: It appears Giesbrecht was worried about abduction as recently as October 22 according to the CTVBC site,

On an Oct. 22 posting to her publication’s website, Jihad Unspun, Qahaar appealed to her contributors for money to help her secure a visa to exit Pakistan, citing kidnapping fears. "We have managed to get very good material out of the country to our production group but our physical safety is now paramount," Qahaar writes. "As a woman, I have already had a few close calls in the tribal areas as kidnappers." link

UPDATE: The News, a Pakistan newspaper, reports of some leads in the kidnap case,

The political administration of the Frontier Region (FR) Bannu on Friday claimed to have found some clues to the kidnappers of female Canadian journalist, who was kidnapped on Wednesday from Sra Darga area of Bannu.Some unidentified gunmen kidnapped female Canadian journalist Khadija Abdul Qahaar when she was on her way to Miramshah via Janikhel Wazir area. Sources said the political authorities of FR Bannu had found some clues to the kidnappers and were now negotiating with them to safely recover the kidnapped journalist. It is believed the kidnappers belong to Takhtikhel and Janikhel Wazir tribes and involved in criminal activities. The sources said she had reached Bannu Tuesday night about 12 am, stayed in a hotel and left for North Waziristan Agency in a taxi next day at 4 pm along with her translator, Salman, who is student of chartered accountancy in Peshawar, and her personal assistant, Zeuq Khan. link

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