Fox News Journalists Released in Gaza

By Doug Struck
Washington Post
Aug. 27, 2006

JERUSALEM, Aug. 27 -- Two Fox Television journalists held for 13 days in the Gaza Strip were released Sunday after they were shown on a videotape saying they converted to Islam.

The two journalists, American Steve Centanni, 60, and New Zealand cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, "have liberated themselves" by converting to Islam, according to the statement accompanying a videotape from a group calling itself the Holy Jihad Brigades.

After their release, Centanni and Wiig told reporters that they hoped that their experience would not scare other journalists from reporting on the Palestinians. After a brief news conference, they headed by van for Jerusalem, CNN reported.

Separately, an Egyptian newspaper reported that a deal was close for a prisoner exchange that would release two Israeli soldiers whose abduction had sparked the 33-day war in south Lebanon.

The Egyptian Al-Ahram newspaper said the deal was being brokered through Germany and would result in the prisoner swap within weeks. Israeli officials declined to comment on the report.

Israeli soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were seized by Hezbollah militiamen near the Israeli-Lebanon border June 25. Israel retaliated by launching air and ground attacks which resulted in the capture of about 20 Hezbollah militiamen, who are expected to be part of any prisoner exchange.

Al-Ahram said German and Egyptian negotiators also were hoping on another prisoner swap of detained Palestinians for Israeli soldier Cpl. Gilad Shalit, held since he was captured outside the Gaza Strip July 12. That abduction brought an Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip that still continues.

The Aug. 14 kidnapping of the Fox Television crew had embarrassed the Hamas-led Palestinian government and prompted concerns that the spate of kidnappings in the Gaza Strip, which usually end within hours, had become more ominous. The two men were shown on a videotape Aug. 23 saying they were treated well. That tape demanded the release of all Muslims from American prisons.

Parts of the latest six-minute tape, aired on al-Jazeera television, showed Centanni and Wiig seated cross-legged. Both read from written statements condemning the American policy in the Middle East. In one scene, both men were shown eating.

"It is Apache helicopters firing Hellfire missiles made in America that kill the residents in Gaza," Wiig said on the tape.

Their statements were punctuated on the tape with screens of written verse from the Koran, and scenes from Abu Ghraib, the prison in Iraq that was the site of abuse of Muslim prisoners by American soldiers.

In a telephone interview later Sunday broadcast by Fox Television, Centanni said they had been forced at gunpoint to say they had converted to Islam. He also recounted moments of fear and physical discomfort. After their abduction, they were blindfolded, handcuffed, and put in a garage.

"We were pushed down onto the dirt-covered concrete floor and we were forced to life face down with our handcuffs on," Centanni told Fox. "Our shoulders were wrenched back, very painful.

"There were times when I thought 'I'm dead,' and I'm not," Centanni said. "I'm fine. I'm so very happy."

At a news conference, Centanni and Wiig said they worried that their kidnapping might discourage other news organizations from reporting on the Palestinians, whom Centanni said "are beautiful."

"That would be a great tragedy for the people of Palestinians" if their story does not get told, Wiig said. "You guys need us on the streets."

Special correspondent Islam Abdelkarim contributed to this report from Gaza.












All original InformationLiberation articles CC 4.0



About - Privacy Policy