On Jan. 7, while on assignment for the Christian Science Monitor, freelance reporter Jill Carroll was kidnapped in Baghdad. Her translator, Alan Enwiyah, was murdered. On Jan. 17, Carroll's captors issued a statement demanding that the United States free all female Iraqi prisoners in U.S. custody, and threatened to kill Carroll if their demand was not met within 72 hours.
Carroll is a dedicated Middle East correspondent; she worked as a reporter for the Jordan Times for a year and learned to speak Arabic before moving to Iraq shortly after the U.S. invasion in March 2003. Many of her co-workers and friends, including many Iraqis, attest to her deep love and respect for the Iraqi people and their culture. Salon joins a long list of international organizations and public figures in condemning Carroll's kidnapping and calling for her release. That list includes the Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brothers, Mohamed Mahdi Akef; Muthanna Harith al-Dhari of Iraq's Muslim Scholars Association; Muyad al-Lami of the Iraqi Journalists' League; Essam al-Eryan and Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh of the Muslim Brotherhood Association; Adnan al-Dulaimi of the Iraqi Accordance Front; the Iraqi Islamic Party; Reporters sans Frontihres; and the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
The Christian Science Monitor is maintaining a Web page with updated information on Carroll's situation, here.
Carroll covered the election of the Iraqi National Assembly for Salon in early 2005. Her eyewitness accounts of the historic vote are posted below. --The Editors
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Ballots and bombs in Baghdad
The capital is in virtual lockdown as insurgents spread intimidation and fear. The biggest question in Iraq: Is voting worth dying for?
By Jill Carroll
United and divided
Newly empowered Shiites are wrangling over religion and politics as ayatollahs, and the U.S., seek to shape Iraq's new government.
By Jill Carroll
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