James Foley speaking at Medill after his release from Libya in 2011.
U.S. Journalist James Foley has been captured in Syria, his family has announced. This is the second time in 18 months that the 2008 Medill School of Journalism graduate has been taken captive in a war zone.
“The family appeals for the release of Jim unharmed,” his relatives said on a web site focused on getting him freed. He was kidnapped in northwest Syria on Thanksgiving Day, the family said.
“We want Jim to come safely home, or at least we need to speak with him to know he’s okay,” James’ father John told GlobalPost.com, for whom the journalist has worked as a frelancer.
“Jim is an objective journalist and we appeal for the release of Jim unharmed. To the people who have Jim, please contact us so we can work together toward his release.”
Facebook page James Foley’s family has created at https://www.facebook.com/FreeJamesFoley
Agence France-Presse said in a story today that Foley was working for that organization. “Foley, who last supplied AFP with video material the day before he disappeared, was picked up in the town of Taftanaz by 4 men who later released his driver and translator, the witnesses said,” AFP said.
Idlib Province, in which Foley is believed to have been captured. (Via Google Maps)
Foley “was traveling with another journalist who has also been reported missing, but whose family has requested that he not be identified,” AFP reported. “No group has claimed responsibility for the abductions, in a country racked by bitter civil war since the start of an uprising by rebels opposing President Bashar al-Assad’s regime nearly two years ago.”
AFP has been “reaching out to a range of contacts and doing everything we can to facilitate his release,” AFP chairman Emmanuel Hoog said
“We are in constant touch with his family and loved ones, while reaching out to a range of contacts and doing everything we can to facilitate his release,” he said.
NBC’s chief foreign affairs correspondent and his team disappeared in Syria in early December but later were freed after a firefight at a checkpoint. “Little is known about the group that kidnapped Engel and his team. And it remains unclear if the same group is responsible for taking James,” GlobalPost said in its story today.
In early 2011, the then-37-year-old freelancer was reporting from Libya for Boston-based Global Post as rebel groups and the Libyan armed forces were engaged in an intense battle for control of key cities. Four journalists, including Foley, were shot at by Gaddafi’s troops in the frontline town of Brega. While three of them were taken captive, the fourth is believed to have been killed in the gunfire.
Foley was released along with the two others on May 18, 2011 after several groups around the world pressured Libyan authorities into releasing the detained journalists.
He spoke to the Northwestern community at his alma mater in Evanston, IL in early June.
“Reflecting on the lessons learned, Foley said. “Conflict zones can be covered safely. This can be done but you have to be very careful.”
“It’s not worth losing your life,” he said. “Not worth seeing your mother, father, brother or sister bawling.”
