The
abduction of Giuliana Sgrena, a foreign correspondent at the Italian
daily Il Manifesto and specialist on issues for Arab women, has shaken
the public opinion in Italy and around the world.
ROME (WOMENSENEWS)--In a dramatic video released by her kidnappers in
Iraq at the end of February, journalist Giuliana Sgrena first expressed
her views and concern for Iraqi civilians:
"Withdraw from Iraq," she is filmed as saying. "These
people must not suffer any longer. Here the situation is no longer
tolerable. Children die; people starve to death in the streets; women
are raped."
Sent to Iraq to cover the national elections, Sgrena was kidnapped Feb.
4 by unidentified gunmen near Baghdad University, where she had just
interviewed refugees from Fallujah. Since then, conflicting claims about
her case have appeared on Islamic militant Web sites; to this date it is
still unknown who the kidnappers are.
The video of Sgrena has played over and over again on Italian
television, and more than 500,000 people participated in the Feb. 19
"Let's release peace" rally here organized by Sgrena's
colleagues at Il Manifesto.
In an interview with Arab satellite broadcaster Al-Nahib aired March 1,
Iraqi Interior Minister Falah Al-Naqib stated that "Giuliana Sgrena
is alive" and if "God wants it, we will have good news
soon."
The announcement is the latest development in the story of how a
passionate, left-wing journalist with a long history of covering women's
issues and human rights has become an international hero.
Since Sgrena's kidnapping in February, international women's
associations and human rights organizations have released appeals for
her release. Now, the National Federation of the Italian Press has
announced that it will dedicate the upcoming International Women's Day
celebrations on March 8 to stories of women in the news "inspired
by Giuliana Sgrena's case, with faith she will be with us," said
Paolo Serventi Longhi, the organization's secretary general.
Broke Story on Alleged Abuse of Iraqi Women
Sgrena has reported from Iraq since the beginning of the war, writing
several controversial articles on women. She broke the story on Iraqi
women being held at Abu Grahib prison, uncovering allegations of torture
and sexual abuse. One of her interview subjects, an Iraqi woman named
Mithal, says she was taken with her son to Abu Grahib prison and
tortured there by U.S. soldiers.
So far, there has been no clear explanation for Sgrena's kidnapping, but
commentators in press reports have speculated that Sgrena's reporting
might be one of the reasons of her abduction, in addition to the desire
to punish Italy for the presence of its militia in Iraq. One hypothesis
is that Sgrena might have been kidnapped by Sunni rebels puzzled by her
unconventional way of doing journalism in the streets amongst common
people. Other commentators, instead, have suggested that the kidnappers
could also simply be loose criminals who are doing it all for ransom.
Sgrena's commitment to women and to women in the Arab world has always
fueled her work. Always on the run, unveiling stories like Abu Grahib,
Sgrena was described by colleagues as "an Arabic-speaking feminist
with a passionate interest in Islam."
Sgrena was also known for being a strong advocate for women's rights
with pacifist ideals. In her coverage of Iraq, she was fiercely critical
of the Italian government's decision to deploy troops in the U.S.-led
multinational force in Iraq.
"Woman of peace," said Gabriele Polo, Il Manifesto's director,
of Sgrena. "She loves Iraq and, like all of us, is against war. She
was in Iraq because she thinks that war does not help Iraq's recovery
and also to tell the daily stories of suffering people."
Born in 1948 in Masera, a small town close to the Swiss border, Sgrena
has been based in Rome for more than 20 years. At the daily Il Manifesto
since 1988--always in the foreign news division--Sgrena has traveled
extensively in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, reporting from Jordan,
Afghanistan, Morocco, Somalia, Algeria and Mozambique.
"We never tried to convince her to stay home; she just loves her
job too much," said her father Franco in press interviews.
With a real passion for the Arab world, she learned Arabic and became
one of the first Italian specialists on Islamic fundamentalism, writing
several books on Arab women, including "Slavery of the Veil,"
a collection of essays by women in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.
"Giuliana never hesitated, in order to tell our stories, to go to
those places where the voices of women fond of freedom and democracy had
been defeated," wrote the activists of Espace Tanassof, a Tunisian
organization working for the advancement of women's rights, in an open
letter to the kidnappers calling for Sgrena's release published in Il
Manifesto. "With courage, competence, abnegation, loyalty and
absolute respect of our culture and tradition, she has risked it all,
including her life, to shed light on our situation. She has done it
everywhere injustice reigns and today in Iraq."
"We are Giuliana's sisters," wrote Yasmine Reguieg, president
of the Arab Italian Women Association based in Rome, in her appeal for
Sgrena's release published on Il Manifesto's Web site, "because we
work for the same goal."
Addressing Sgrena, she added: "You have reported to the whole world
the Algerian women's drama who have fought and resisted, never giving in
to the terrorists and fanatics who wanted to deny their dignities."
Sgrena belongs to the organization Controparola, or Counterword, which
draws together about 30 journalists and writers in Italy engaged in
"defending women's dignity and helping women advance in the media
and in the employment world." She is also a member of Women in
Black, an international network of "women committed to peace with
justice and actively opposed to injustice, war, militarism and other
forms of violence."
Dedicated to Telling the Stories of Others
Sgrena herself was modest--an old-style reporter dedicated to telling
stories of others rather than telling others of her exploits. "She
never told us where she had been, which risks she ran into. Never.
Nobody knew about her journeys." said Dacia Maraini, a well-known
Italian writer who has known Sgrena since the 1970s.
French correspondent of daily paper Liberation, Florance Aubenas, and
her Iraqi interpreter Hussein Hanoun al-Saadi were abducted Jan. 5 in
Baghdad exactly one month before Sgrena. In her appeal for Aubenas'
release, Sgrena wrote: "information has been militarized . . .
rebelling to these schemes is risky, but it is a risk that one must run
to inform people. Florence Aubenas has always run this risk: in Rwanda,
Kosovo, Algeria, Afghanistan and Iraq. This is why we stand by
her."
Sgrena's own commitment to journalism is why so many are standing by
hoping for her release.
"Dear Giuliana," begins Scolari's open letter published on Il
Manifesto after the rally. "I can only ask (those who have abducted
you) to talk with you and look into your eyes, to find in your words and
also in the pictures you took the grounds of a humanity which seems
lost, the drive for your passion for Iraqi people, whom you have
narrated as no one else has been able to."
Clara Park is a freelance writer based in Rome. She is also a staff
writer for the Italian women's news agency Delt@News, where she covers
world news, gender, human rights and development issues.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For more information:
Il Manifesto--
Giuliana:
http://www.ilmanifesto.it/pag/sgrena/
Il Manifesto--
Pictures by Giuliana Sgrena:
http://www.ilmanifesto.it/pag/sgrena/fotobambini/tumb/
Casa Internazionale della Donne
[In Italian]:
http://www.casainternazionaledelledonne.org/
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