Brussels, 12/12/2013 (Agence Europe) - On 11 December, the EU called for the release of two Spanish journalists and the 2011 Sakharov prizewinner, Razan Zaitouneh, who have been kidnapped in Syria.
The European Commission and the European External Action Service (EEAS) condemned - through the voice of spokesperson Olivier Bailly - the kidnap of two Spanish journalists in Syria. Javier Espinosa, a correspondent for the Spanish daily newspaper El Mundo, and freelance photographer Ricardo Garcia Vilanova were kidnapped on 16 September by a group linked to al-Quaeda, according to El Mundo on 9 December. Bailly called for the immediate release of these journalists, as the EU has done for other kidnapped European journalists. “The reporters must be able to do their work without fearing attacks and kidnap”, he added. Bailly said that the EEAS is in contact with the governments of the countries whose journalists have been kidnapped or are being held hostage in Syria. According to Reporters Sans Frontières, 18 foreign journalists are currently reported as having been kidnapped or detained or have been reported missing in Syria - including four from France and one from Sweden.
On 10 December, European Parliament President Martin Schulz condemned the kidnapping of the Syrian woman Razan Zaitouneh, along with three other human rights campaigners, and called for her immediate release. The leader of the European Parliament's ALDE Group, Guy Verhofstadt (Belgium), said it was “deeply worrying and upsetting to hear of the kidnapping of Razan Zaitouneh. We stand united with her friends and family and hope for her immediate and unconditional release.” Marietje Schaake (ALDE, Netherlands) said that “the bravery of Razan Zaitouneh, who stood for her rights and rights of her compatriots against the ruthless regime of Bashar al Assad and extremists alike, commands the highest respect (…) Zaitouneh belongs to a new Syria that no one can kidnap”, Shaake said, hoping that Zaitouneh will be returned to her family “safe and sound”. (CG/transl.fl)